Hello!
This week we have an exercise based on a suggestion from @RK Wallis. It's quick and interesting, not too much writing involved. Both are taken from James Scott Bell’s VOICE: The Secret Power of Great Writing (Bell on Writing), which seems like an excellent work on developing a unique voice.
Vocal Deconstruction and Sentence Swap
Part 1: Have a look through your own work and pick out a couple of sentences that feel most like you’re embodying your voice. Deconstruct those sentences. Why do you think they’re the most you? What literary devices did you use?
Part 2: Take the opening sentence* from one your favourite books and edit it. Can you make the sentence sound like your voice? Take another opening sentence** from a different book, can you make this opening sound like the voice of the first author?
*I reckon it doesn’t have to be the opening sentence, so let’s open it to any sentence that appeals to you.
**ditto
Feel free to hop in and join us! We'll open a private thread to share what we wrote, so let me know and I'll count you in. We'll have a Zoom meeting at Huddle South time (Wednesday) to discuss the exercise, its outcomes and its challenges. Hope to see you then!
Laura
This week we have an exercise based on a suggestion from @RK Wallis. It's quick and interesting, not too much writing involved. Both are taken from James Scott Bell’s VOICE: The Secret Power of Great Writing (Bell on Writing), which seems like an excellent work on developing a unique voice.
Vocal Deconstruction and Sentence Swap
Part 1: Have a look through your own work and pick out a couple of sentences that feel most like you’re embodying your voice. Deconstruct those sentences. Why do you think they’re the most you? What literary devices did you use?
Part 2: Take the opening sentence* from one your favourite books and edit it. Can you make the sentence sound like your voice? Take another opening sentence** from a different book, can you make this opening sound like the voice of the first author?
*I reckon it doesn’t have to be the opening sentence, so let’s open it to any sentence that appeals to you.
**ditto
Feel free to hop in and join us! We'll open a private thread to share what we wrote, so let me know and I'll count you in. We'll have a Zoom meeting at Huddle South time (Wednesday) to discuss the exercise, its outcomes and its challenges. Hope to see you then!
Laura
