Voice, Style, and Technique
Voice, Style and Technique
Style can change, technique can be taught, and voice -- well, voice can be refined, but, truly, voice is what people read a certain writer for.
Voice is the primary thing that makes one writer different than another, one storyteller different than the next. Voice is unique (and how wonderful is THAT!) and crucial.
I must admit I was very upset when I saw the 1 star review of Feral Magic on amazon. Now, I get one stars and two stars most every book (if you think I'm going to look to check these facts, you are wrong). But what was bad for me about the review on Feral Magic was that it was a new project I really wanted to take off, and the one star came when there were only two reviews.
I DID read it, how could I not? And what it came down to is that the reviewer did not like my voice, style or technique.
There is nothing I can do to recover from that. There is no way I can convince her that she'd like another book of mine. She will probably never like my work.
THAT IS HER PREROGATIVE. WE ARE ALL UNIQUE AND LIKE WHAT WE LIKE, AND SHOULD READ WHAT WE WANT TO READ.
I did what I rarely do, asked some critique buddies that if they liked the work and thought it merited more stars, to post. One of them came through and I was greatly relieved.
Each one of my books will be judged by reviewers. Since I put my work out there, that is what I must expect and accept. My writing will be judged, my voice and technique. Every writer who is published must accept that. Sometimes it won't feel fair. Tough.
But I'm not going to stop writing stories I love and believe in, and I will always do, as I have always done: Write the best book I can with the knowledge and resources I have. I am a writer.
Merry meet and merry part and merry meet again.
Robin
Style can change, technique can be taught, and voice -- well, voice can be refined, but, truly, voice is what people read a certain writer for.
Voice is the primary thing that makes one writer different than another, one storyteller different than the next. Voice is unique (and how wonderful is THAT!) and crucial.
I must admit I was very upset when I saw the 1 star review of Feral Magic on amazon. Now, I get one stars and two stars most every book (if you think I'm going to look to check these facts, you are wrong). But what was bad for me about the review on Feral Magic was that it was a new project I really wanted to take off, and the one star came when there were only two reviews.
I DID read it, how could I not? And what it came down to is that the reviewer did not like my voice, style or technique.
There is nothing I can do to recover from that. There is no way I can convince her that she'd like another book of mine. She will probably never like my work.
THAT IS HER PREROGATIVE. WE ARE ALL UNIQUE AND LIKE WHAT WE LIKE, AND SHOULD READ WHAT WE WANT TO READ.
I did what I rarely do, asked some critique buddies that if they liked the work and thought it merited more stars, to post. One of them came through and I was greatly relieved.
Each one of my books will be judged by reviewers. Since I put my work out there, that is what I must expect and accept. My writing will be judged, my voice and technique. Every writer who is published must accept that. Sometimes it won't feel fair. Tough.
But I'm not going to stop writing stories I love and believe in, and I will always do, as I have always done: Write the best book I can with the knowledge and resources I have. I am a writer.
Merry meet and merry part and merry meet again.
Robin
posted by FantasyAuthor RobinDOwens | 7:39 AM
2 Comments:
I haven't read that particular book of yours yet, so I can't comment on it. However, I have read almost ALL of your others and have loved them quite a bit.
I think that sometimes readers don't sink enough into the work they are reading (the world, or whatever you want to call it) to pick up the Voice of the writer or the intentions behind the scenes/plots/everything. This happened to me when I first started reading Steven Brust, I just didn't get the book or the author. However, I continued onto his next book and then it hit me, his humor was dry and sarcastic and then I totally got it! Then I fell in love with his books.
I've had to put some books down becuase *I* wasn't in the mood for that particular genre or story line. I always go back to it though, once I get over my funk.
Love your work, so happy you're still writing :)
Merry Meet :)
~Alison
aka Faery Chaos
Woops, sorry, I missed this. And yes, I'm accustomed to writing longer than this enovella, so that might have shown. But there WERE some technique bits that I did deliberately that the reviewer just didn't like...so that's too bad for me because I wouldn't change them.
Thanks again!
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