Voice Week – Things to Know

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Voice Week starts Monday, and if you’re like me, you’re not quite ready yet! If I can just get those last two voices sounding right…

Anyway, some housekeeping before we start:

Inspiration Monday is postponed until next week. So you get two weeks to play with the prompts I posted last week! Woohoo!

Remember to check the Voice Writer list. The right-hand column over here. Make sure your name is on it if you are participating, and comment if I still need to add you. I think we’re up to 20 people – great crowd!

Don’t worry about what time you post your voices. Without fail, every year, there’s some poor soul apologizing for posting early or late. The thing is, unless you mention it, I WON’T KNOW. We are in all different time zones, and my two-dimensional brain can’t even remember whether Australia is behind or ahead of Texas, let alone by how many hours. So I’ll just assume you’re all posting on the right day for your time zone. NO WORRIES!!!

There aren’t really rules. So don’t be nervous if you’re not sure what you wrote is what the challenge called for. Everyone interprets it differently, and that’s part of the fun!

Subscribe to (or hang out at) Voice Week HQ. I’ll be reblogging links to ALL the voices on that site, so you can click through to ’em all and get the whole scope of Voice Week in one place. Be sure to comment on what you read – the conversation is part of the wonderfulness.

So let’s get this fun started!

Still need some guidance? Here are some blog posts about voice!

How to find your voice – in five voices

Five great examples of voice

How to write like someone you’re not

How to write in an other-worldly voice

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Inspiration Monday: Dark on Your Feet

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Voice Week starts one week from today! If you’re participating, please check the Voice Writer list yonder to make sure your name is on it, and let me know if I missed you. We’re up to 20, including me, but there’s still time to join if you haven’t!

Have questions? Leave them in the comments!

Need inspiration? Look no further:

Tara

Imaginator

Chris

LLD

Lucy

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Inspiration Monday logo

The Rules

There are none. Read the prompts, get inspired, write something. No word count minimum or maximum. You don’t have to include the exact prompt in your piece, and you can interpret the prompt(s) any way you like.

OR

No really; I need rules!

Okay; write 200-500 words on the prompt of your choice. You may either use the prompt as the title of your piece or work it into the body of your piece. You must complete it before 6 pm CST on the Monday following this post.

The Prompts:

DARK ON YOUR FEET

THIN AS THIEVES

ASTRAL PROJECTION

LAST MEAL ON EARTH

ANTI MERIDIAN

Want to share your Inspiration Monday piece? Post it on your blog and then give me the link in the comments below (I’ll also love you more if you link back to me); I’ll include a link to your piece in the next Inspiration Monday post. No blog? Email your piece to me at stephanie (at) bekindrewrite (dot) com. (I do reserve the right to NOT link to a piece as stated in my Link Discretion Policy.)

Plus, get the InMon badge for your site here.

Happy writing!

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Inspiration Monday: Cosmic Lighthouse

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So I get only about three hours of sleep Friday night, but still manage to make significant progress in the old WIP on Saturday. And then I seriously consider purposefully sleep-depriving myself next week in an attempt to repeat the effect.

Next thing you know I’ll be throwing salt over my shoulder and tugging on the same pair of stinky socks every time I sit down at the computer.

Hey, 16 folks signed up for Voice Week so far, not including myself. Still time! It starts on the 22nd.

Need inspiration? Here are some fun things to read – from some new faces, too!

Illsa

Tara

ACElliot

Adan

Kate

Lucy

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Inspiration Monday logo

The Rules

There are none. Read the prompts, get inspired, write something. No word count minimum or maximum. You don’t have to include the exact prompt in your piece, and you can interpret the prompt(s) any way you like.

OR

No really; I need rules!

Okay; write 200-500 words on the prompt of your choice. You may either use the prompt as the title of your piece or work it into the body of your piece. You must complete it before 6 pm CST on the Monday following this post.

The Prompts:

COSMIC LIGHTHOUSE

INTANGIBLE PROOF

BOOK SHED

BUCKET OF TEA

DETECTIVE WARS

Want to share your Inspiration Monday piece? Post it on your blog and then give me the link in the comments below (I’ll also love you more if you link back to me); I’ll include a link to your piece in the next Inspiration Monday post. No blog? Email your piece to me at stephanie (at) bekindrewrite (dot) com. (I do reserve the right to NOT link to a piece as stated in my Link Discretion Policy.)

Plus, get the InMon badge for your site here.

Happy writing!

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Voice Week: Tips and a Prize!

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Announcing the Voice Week 2014 Prize!

The Hobbit book

 

And here it is. A lovely, miniaturized copy of The Hobbit. Fitting well in Hobbit hands, it’s the perfect size to take there and back again.

 

 

 

 

The Hobbit

 

Also small enough to sneak into a showing of The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies, so as to shout corrections at the screen.

 

 

illustration from The Hobbit

 

 

Featuring gold-tipped edges and black and white illustrations by Tolkien himself. Isn’t it precious?

It will be awarded to a randomly-chosen Voice Writer–so this isn’t a competition, but you do have to participate to win. Hint hint.

 

 

Speaking of Voice Week, it’s less than three weeks hence; I hope you’ve started writing. In case it helps, here’s the process I use for creating my own Voice Week pieces.

  1. Pick a prompt. I like to choose something that has a lot of emotional potential, but that isn’t too complicated. The first year, I picked “alcoholic mother” – a good opportunity to express character without having to flesh out a whole story. It’s more like a glimpse of some feelings than a story.
  2. Outline the week. I jot down ideas for which voices I want to try. For alcoholic mother, I tried versions that were educated (complete sentences, better vocabulary), uneducated (incomplete sentences, aint’s), teenagery (contractions, slang), fudging the truth (like educated, but with lies!), medieval (ye olde) and childlike (simplistic).
  3. Rough draft two or three pieces. I start with the ones I feel would be easy to write, voices I already have a good handle on. I tweak to make the differences as striking as possible, and may swap a few sentences.
  4. Look for themes. At this point I look to see if I have subconsciously included some kind of deeper message. If I have, I’ll shape the other pieces to flesh out that message more clearly.
  5. Read some stuff similar to the voices I’m trying to create. This helps me get an “ear” for what the writing should sound like. I tend to be a chameleon writer who conforms my own work to whatever I’m reading at the time. That may also be why I slip into a (very bad) English accent after watching too much Doctor Who.
  6. Write the remaining pieces. Finishing up, again based on outline and themes.
  7. Trim. Cutting down till they’re all close to 100 words, allowing wiggle room for wordier voices.
  8. Decide on the order I think they should appear. It might be chronological. Or the order might serve to tell a bigger story.
  9. Make my brother read them. Critique partners are so important—of course all your fellow Voice Writers will serve as critique partners during Voice Week itself, so this is a step that can be skipped.

Want more guidance? Here are some links!

How to write like someone you’re not

How to write in an other-worldly voice

Stay tuned for more.

Inspiration Monday: Sunset at Dawn

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Three day weekends are the best, y’all. Managed to get quite a bit done!

Ha. You know you’re committed when you get time off from your writing job and you spend it writing.

Don’t worry; I also watched a LOT of Netflix, and finished a book. Didn’t like the book, though.

I liked these better:

Tara

Chris (missed a couple weeks ago)

Evan

Kate

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Inspiration Monday logo

The Rules

There are none. Read the prompts, get inspired, write something. No word count minimum or maximum. You don’t have to include the exact prompt in your piece, and you can interpret the prompt(s) any way you like.

OR

No really; I need rules!

Okay; write 200-500 words on the prompt of your choice. You may either use the prompt as the title of your piece or work it into the body of your piece. You must complete it before 6 pm CST on the Monday following this post.

The Prompts:

SUNSET AT DAWN

IN LIEU OF FLOWERS

ODD-LOOKING WEAPON

PAN-DIMENSIONAL PANDEMONIUM

WHICH REALITY?

Want to share your Inspiration Monday piece? Post it on your blog and then give me the link in the comments below (I’ll also love you more if you link back to me); I’ll include a link to your piece in the next Inspiration Monday post. No blog? Email your piece to me at stephanie (at) bekindrewrite (dot) com. (I do reserve the right to NOT link to a piece as stated in my Link Discretion Policy.)

Plus, get the InMon badge for your site here.

Happy writing!

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