Hi hello—
After so many years of writing and receiving feedback on my writing and learning the purpose of different styles of writing, I want to figure out my writing voice.
When I first started storytelling, my writing was in strict third person limited perspective. That’s what I read, what was popular at the time, and what felt right. To me, it’s what storytelling was supposed to sound like. But after going to school for fiction writing and then joining a critique group, I received lots of feedback on my work and then started leaning more into the first person perspective for characters. As popularized in the young adult fiction arena. And as someone who writes in that sphere, young adult and new adult, it was a natural choice to follow the trend.
It fit the coming-of-age vibe I was going for, for sure. Being inside an angsty teen’s head, you can drill down into the nitty gritty teenage emotion very easily. Any emotion feels large and front of mind and life or death because you’re in their head, you get the play-by-play.
But… that was sort of my problem.
I got stuck in the angst, in the thought patterns, in the feeeeeelings of it all. 😬
As an Enneagram Type 9, as I’ve said before on here, I have issues with merging with other personalities. And when I merged with characters, I got lost in figuring out their thought patterns and the why’s behind every word they spoke, every action they took. I wanted everything to mesh into a singular human. This process of rewriting internal monologues and trying to get the “vibe” of a character’s mind just right would send me into mental spirals and blocks for weeks at a time. Which sucks when you’re trying to finish a book quickly to release it (when your brain is still stuck on the quick-release method of self-publishing) and then you spiral on if you should even be a writer and all the imposter syndrome symptoms on the checklist.
Obviously, you want your characters to feel real. But there is also a line. Characters are supposed be slightly hyperbolized, archetypal humans, not hyper realistic. But for some reason, I needed them to be so realistic, they could walk off the page into your local grocery store and you wouldn’t bat an eye.
So, after several books and stories struggling through this, I am now switching back to third person limited perspective for my stories. I’ve only written a few things this way so far, but it definitely feels better. And I can move on with the plot way faster. The balance of character motivations and plot driven scenes feels more natural, and my pacing feels more on point.
Now, this leads me to a few decisions, especially concerning my current series that is out and about on the web bookstores. But I’m going to save the decision for a later blog.
For now, I’m focusing on my storytelling voice, how to sound more like an orator in my words, and pulling back from drastic intimacy with my characters. To protect my mental health but also to get this dang books written faster! And out to you guys 💙
Here’s to finding our voices 🥂
Talk soon,
Brittany
