Monday, September 26, 2011

Ways to Make Your Story Sing

So, as I've been revising this secret little story, I've been paying BIG attention to voice. As in, staying in it, making it good/real/rich, making it o-o-z-e personality. Tone. Mood.

I was watching a thriller the other day, and just before something bad happened, the music got all tinkly. And when the tension rose, the music got louder, fast.

How can we use music in our writing? How can we strengthen voice?

Well, I'm finding that little tricks can make an enormous difference.

Like. Punctuation! (Including parentheses. And ellipses...)

And sentence fluency.

And paragraph structure.

And it's so all about word choice.

All of these things--and showing, not telling, and using specific nouns and strong verbs--add to a story's personality/tone/mood.

Dashes. Drawls. Slang?

POOF! How about some onomatopoeia?

Or italics? Fragments? Pacing!

It's all up to you: the feel you want to create, the music you want to play.

(And by all means, help a sister out. If you have any good tips, please. Leave them right here.)


Shannon O'Donnell said...

Yes, yes, yes!! SO TRUE!

I wish I could be in one of your classes, Jennie--I bet you are the best writing teacher ever! :-)

Angela Felsted said...

It is really cool to write when you hit that sweet spot where you can fool around with language.