On Voice by Annmarie Miles

I heard my husband speaking on the phone the other day and he used a phrase that was not his. It was something only an Irish person would say. It’s not surprising really after 19 years of marriage, some of my brogue was bound to rub off. But it got me thinking again about ‘voice.’ I felt in that moment, he was using mine.

This is me a few years ago.
No idea what I was saying,
but I was talking about writing
Photo credit: Denise Kennedy

I love spending time on voice and dialogue in my fiction. My first novel will be published soon, so rather than having to capture my characters voices in the smaller word count of short stories, I’ve been able to allow them to express themselves, and reveal themselves in their speech. One of my bugbears is speech tags and I’m always wrestling with getting the right amount in. As I mentioned, I love dialogue, and I want readers to know who is speaking, by the voice, rather than reams of he said/she said. I only use the alternative tags, such as; he shouted, she murmured, he whispered etc if necessary. I don’t use them if all I’m doing is disguising overkill in the he said/she said department. It’s a hard balance to strike and as we enter the final proofing stage of my first long piece of fiction, I hope I’ve managed it.

At writing group last week, one of our members mentioned she has a character who won’t come to heel. My friend has plans for the character but every time she sits down to write, the character insists on going another way. Every one of us around the table nodded in agreement. I'm sure other writers reading this will understand.  We went on to talk about some of our characters as if they were disobedient children.

I wonder if there is a naughty step for characters.

As frustrating as it can be, I do love when it happens. For me, it means I’ve given my character their voice and I must let them be true to it. I might love a sentence or a scene, but if it’s not sitting right with me, it’s often because my character would not respond in that way, and I must rewrite.

As well as reading the Psalms devotionally, I sometimes read them from the point of view of David as a writer. He doesn't only speak from his own point of view. He quotes enemies, those with seeking, searching hearts, and God himself. Sometimes I feel as if he's quoting me. Of course, it’s really the other way around, but I wonder if God has given us the ability to hear our own voices, written by David. The Psalmist cries out to God in anguish, fear, uncertainty, joy, determination, worship, praise… and every so often I think, that’s what I’d say. That’s my voice. It can feel as authentic as if I'd written it myself. The sign of a great Writer :)

Annmarie Miles is from Dublin, Ireland.
She lives with her husband Richard who is a pastor in the Eastern Valley of Gwent, in South Wales. She writes short stories, magazine articles, devotional pieces for Christian radio, and blogs about her faith at www.auntyamo.com Her first collection of short stories published in 2013, is called 'The Long & The Short of it'. Her second collection, 'A Sense of the Sea and other stories,' was published in 2018. She is currently editing a non-fiction book about being an overweight Christian called, 'Have mercy on me O Lord, a slimmer.'