I think my favorite thing about Voice Week is that it’s like Inspiration Monday on steroids. Everybody posts some amazing piece on Monday, and then the awesomeness just keeps coming at you from different angles all week.
I’m so grateful to each of you for taking the time to join this project, both to create and to appreciate other writer’s voices. I’m astounded and humbled every year, when I write a few blog posts asking a bunch of strangers (but are we really strangers?) to do something crazy with me, and you all come up with this art that makes me gasp and giggle and tear up. There’s a heck of a lot wrong with this world, but if a bunch of random people can get together and do this – that’s a good reason to walk around with a grin on your face.
Every one of you impressed me. Every one. Here are some of my favorite lines from this week – and believe me, they were hard to choose!
He watched on the outskirts, unmoved by the tears. Hypocrites, all of them. Anger swirled like a fog, draping over his shoulders.
From Carrie. Read about the funeral from the beginning.
As I fell I hoped he would remember me, and I hoped he could forget me too.
From Christina. Read about the fall from the beginning. Christina has also written a lovely recap of the week and what it taught her about her novel.
He says he’s careful: prays away from the others, doesn’t rub his faith in their faces, but a mother worries.
From Elmo. Read thoughts from the mothers of warriors from the beginning. Read Elmo’s recap, too.
They were different, all of them–different hues, different subjects, different strokes–but they all had the same eyes.
Leonardo’s eyes.
From Evan. Read the story of two renaissance legends from the beginning. Evan also has an interesting post on how much of yourself to put in your characters.
As fiercely intense as they looked in their full pads and helmets, it was easy to forget that they were just boys, and Michael had more reason than most coaches to remember that.
From Jennie. Read about the last nine seconds from the beginning.
The world is full of smells and, if you pay attention, your nose will tell you more than your eyes and ears combined.
From Jubilare. Read about the eerily empty house from the beginning.
The furnace is blazing, the bellows are blowing; a man must stand amid adversity and forge his own fortune.
From LLD Fiction. Read thoughts from the New World from the beginning.
He suddenly feels so young, so burdened. A wish burns within his chest—a heart-pounding desire that this sword remain lodged in place, a stubborn tribute to a monarch who could not possibly be him.
From Love The Bad Buy. Read the voices of the Aurthurian legend from the beginning.
Sunken, skeletal features look hollowly back.
You’re so fat, I hate you. You are a weak pathetic loser.
You had three grapes today, that is a small victory, but don’t backslide.
From Mr. Perfect. Read the voices of hunger from the beginning.
Do these words I’m reciting mean something to them? Or is it just background noise?
From The Imaginator. Read thoughts from the gravesite from the beginning.
I am used to indifference; but how to confront love which is thicker and quicker than blood?
From The Inner Zone. Read about the boy who found his family from the beginning.
I can see the medics watching me. They’re waiting for me to fall down so they can run in and help. Stop watching me, you vultures.
From Writing Sprint. Read about the last leg of the race from the beginning.
Subconsciously I go to twist the gold band on my ring finger -except it’s not there, I look down at my hand, diverting my eyes from the phone; an indentation of the ring screams stark realisations to me…it also explains Tom’s cold cup of coffee each morning and the dinner he never eats. It makes sense, but it does not…
From Yikici. Read a wife’s reactions to a life-altering phone call from the beginning.
The Prize
Remember that? The random number generator gave me #2, which make Christina Kann the lucky winner of a lovely hardcover copy of one of my favorite voice-ridden books, The Book Thief! Christina, I’ll be emailing you for your address so I can send it to you!
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What were some of your favorite moments from Voice Week? Tell me in the comments!
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Congratulations, Christina!
And thank you, Stephanie, for putting this together. 😀
You’re so very welcome!
I found this exercise very useful because it made me realise that giving voices to characters really brings them to life. Creating a voice makes me think carefully about who the characters are and this helps me to define them and strengthen their identities. From now on, this is going to be a key part of my writing process.
That’s awesome! You voice it so well. : )