Find Your Writing Niche: Find Your Voice

Characters  develop their own personalities and speak to authors in their own voices. Aspiring authors must listen as closely as possible to the people in their stories, but in order to sell that story, those characters must have unique voices. Authors have to read their favorite books to hear those voices, and I recommend people read the Miss Julia books to learn this skill.

Every character has a voice

Miss Julia is the creation of Ann B. Ross, who just released her 17th Miss Julia book, “Miss Julia Lays Down the Law.” The first book in the series, “Miss Julia Speaks her Mind,” was published in 1999, and Miss Julia is heard in a voice as strong as a screaming baby.

She is an elderly widow who decides to say what’s on her mind because she can’t be silent any longer. She finds her husband slumped over the steering wheel of his Lincoln, and to her surprise she learns that he is very rich and she is the beneficiary. Within months her husband’s  mistress shows up at her door claiming the  young boy with her is the man’s child. Miss Julia had no idea her husband was committing adultery, and the knowledge gives her strength to face any adversity in her path. She develops a “voice.”

Characteristics of a voice are explained in the blog, “Find Your Creative Muse by David Hood at https://davehood59.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/elements-of-fiction-style-and-tone.

Other article are available, but start here for the motivation to continue searching for the personalities, the voices, that are perfect for your fiction.

Article By: Jo Ann Mathews

I published three ebooks in 2020: Women and Adversity, Honoring 23 Black Women; Women and Adversity, Recognizing 23 Notable Mothers; and Women and Adversity, Saluting 23 Faithful Suffragists to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. These books are meant to be study guides for all students from grade school through college to help in choosing topics for assignments and to learn more about these noteworthy women. Go to amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and goodreads.com to learn more.

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