tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2363444567124084776.post7542252841840968313..comments2023-10-20T08:56:14.314+01:00Comments on Stroppy Author: A life in publishing: Hearing voicesStroppy Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16560035800075465845noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2363444567124084776.post-64186076712411440822011-12-20T09:03:45.588+00:002011-12-20T09:03:45.588+00:00Thank you, Kathryn, that's very kind - and rea...Thank you, Kathryn, that's very kind - and reassuring!<br /><br />Ah, Jo, I meant specifically writers that I *do* know/have heard. I agree with all the points about manufactured voice, and the voices of the character/narrator/author. With writers like Steinbeck who create a voice you may feel you can hear, that's a very different matter. If you knew Steinbeck personally, would you hear the stories read in his voice? And would it put a layer between you and the book that you would welcome or dislike? Perhaps it depends on how much you like to suspend disbelief. <br /><br />Yes, Brian - I know what you mean! If only some things could be unwritten. Oh, that's what OOP is for. Was for. When it still happened.<br /><br />Sue - poetry, you're right! Once heard, always read in that voice.Stroppy Authorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16560035800075465845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2363444567124084776.post-67017308329707298592011-12-18T15:40:30.585+00:002011-12-18T15:40:30.585+00:00I don't think I do 'hear' the author&#...I don't think I do 'hear' the author's voice as I read. I don't experience reading like that at all. Except maybe poetry, if I've heard it being read by the poet...Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2363444567124084776.post-48524225608101200132011-12-18T14:40:52.185+00:002011-12-18T14:40:52.185+00:00Another,separate but linked experience arises from...Another,separate but linked experience arises from reading something you, yourself, wrote many years earlier and thinking, 'Oh God! That's definitely me but not me as I am now.' Personally, I hate that.Brian Keaneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17754984212153946279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2363444567124084776.post-1147538563056246712011-12-18T14:23:37.992+00:002011-12-18T14:23:37.992+00:00I don't think there is a single answer to this...I don't think there is a single answer to this. There are books that no-one else could possibly have written (most of Steinbeck) but does that mean that I hear his voice of that of his unique characters? <br /><br />But when can we be sure it is the writer's voice alone that shines through? I agree with Ness, it makes a difference if you have seen or heard a writer. And some memoir feel very personal (though we know that some of those, too, have an interesting relationship with 'truth').<br /><br />And does it bother me? Only on those few occasions when an author forgets to narrate a story and butts in with his or her opinion. I want to work those out for myself.JOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03127111575563904349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2363444567124084776.post-81274585756758180572011-12-18T11:41:11.314+00:002011-12-18T11:41:11.314+00:00I don't exactly 'hear their voice'...t...I don't exactly 'hear their voice'...that is their actual, factual voice, but if a book is by someone I know (and I know a lot of writers) they are sort of THERE in the book in a way I can't explain and which is not true of people I don't know. I have heard, eg, Ruth Rendell speak many times but I don't hear HER....I am conscious in a way of her being the person who did the writing. I am not making myself clear but then I don't really know what I mean!adelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15826710558292792068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2363444567124084776.post-60780399129550546362011-12-18T11:14:46.552+00:002011-12-18T11:14:46.552+00:00There is a lot of negotiating to be done here as a...There is a lot of negotiating to be done here as a writer - how much of your voice does your reader really want to hear?<br />Thank you for this - much to consider.<br />This was interesting too ://www.copyblogger.com/authentic-marketing/K.M.Lockwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07540392557430776265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2363444567124084776.post-71776916260296792882011-12-18T11:02:25.785+00:002011-12-18T11:02:25.785+00:00I find if I have heard the author speak then yes I...I find if I have heard the author speak then yes I do tend to hear them particularly if it is a non fiction book. This is not an intrusion it is like having a silent conversation with them.<br /><br />I think Kathy is right sometimes it is what makes a book yours. I know I have read books by friends and I know exactly what they are talking about even though it is not written in words on the page. You just know them well enough to understand. But, having said that, I am not sure it happens when you don't know the writer. You may have created a voice (as you said when doing your PhD) but that may not be a true voice.<br />Oh dear I think I am rambling too...Roland Barthes has a lot to answer for....Ness Harbourhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07370427313780759711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2363444567124084776.post-36657420896199081182011-12-18T10:47:47.429+00:002011-12-18T10:47:47.429+00:00I do - in non and fiction - and it doesn't bo...I do - in non and fiction - and it doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I like it, it's as if I am being told a story directly by them and it makes it no less authentic. <br />It is strange though - we always try and be careful, in fiction, of allowing too much 'authorial' voice bleeding and yet that voice, the tone that sets a novel, is what makes is love it or not. <br /><br />It's the thing that makes a book yours - your Venetian novel could only have been written by you - the elegance of script, the underlying historical knowledge, the edge of danger that laces through the story, the frightening subject matter - those things come from you, how could we not hear you in the telling of that tale?Kathryn Evanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16439670363289229014noreply@blogger.com