I started working on my second book, which follows on the first one, and I felt as if my narrative voice completely changed. I have previously written it more than halfway and left it to edit my first manuscript. Now I can't get myself to write the second novel with the same or at least similar outlook. I am now stuck with a novel which is half me of 6 months ago and another half that is me at the present time.
I read a lot of books, fiction and nonfiction a like, the past few months and I thoroughly enjoyed most of them. But now I am not the same writer I was just a few months ago. I know that you are supposed to read as many books in your genre and of your favorite authors, pick up on their style, see what makes their writing brilliant, while still maintaining that essential thing that makes you...you.
Well I screwed up big time. My whole attitude and style of writing has changed. Which I suppose can be a good thing. Growing as a writer is necessary. In all the books I read, about helping one write better, the authors always talk about growing and your writing evolving. So maybe that is what I am experiencing.
But is there a chance that one can lose oneself in all those books? Can it be that reading so much about rules, do's and don'ts and what ever others offer as wisdom, make you lose your originality, writing personality or in my case, writing voice?
I think I just have to read through my book and try to recapture the essence of the novel. Make myself understand why I wrote what I did, when I did.
So what do you think? Can one lose one's voice as a writer or is that just nonsense?
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My voice has remained more or less consistent over the years, but the one thing that has changed is a refinement of the style I write now. I think it's amazing that some writers can "find" a voice, because I've been fighting with the same one for nearly a decade.
ReplyDeletePerhaps if you do read through the book again, you'll get the flow back that you originally intended. However if the voice you're writing in now has shown improvement, I wouldn't suppress it completely. I can't imagine that you've completely lost the ability to write in what was your own voice, it's just a matter of finding it again.
Thanks Renee. I sometimes astound myself with the stupid situations I get myself into. Leave it to me to make simple things complicated.
ReplyDeleteI have figured out what was off before. It is not that my writing style changed really but that it is a bit different. I am busy editing my first novel which I wrote last year. And I realized that my writing has improved. My sentence structure and punctuation is also better. So I am not as green as I was a year ago.
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