blogging some more

I'm up to my second poast at eHarlequin and this time we're talking all about voice...


what's in a voice?

Okay, so we’ve done location thing, now let’s start thinking a little sideways…

When we were talking about setting, I was amazed when I realised that the delightful Trish Wylie really doesn’t spend all that much time on location. Yet her books are so Irish it seeps out of every page. She doesn’t need to throw in rolling green hills covered in clover and leprechauns on every second page for us to know exactly where her books are set because her Irish voice is so very, very strong.

It got me to thinking about the fact that my editor loves the very “Australian” feel of my books. Even my city books. That is considered to be a point of difference for me. But to tell you the truth, I couldn’t try to be Australian even if I wanted to. The way I write simply pours out of me as though I am speaking onto the page. On the flipside, it means that she sometimes sends back nice little question marks over certain words which for me are everyday language but for anyone not born down under are utter gibberish!

So, what does all this really mean? What is the great and mysterious “voice” we hear so much about?


For more questions and answers about voice, quotes from some of my favourite authors and lots of great ideas about where voice comes from, come on over to my eHarlequin blog...