Finding My Voice

Hi

Issue # 18, 1st October 2010

In This Issue:

1. Twitting Our Way to Success
2. Finding My Voice
3. Spread the word

Twitting Our Way to Success

Kundananji and his friends are busy twitting their way to success! You know you cannot beat them, so just join them! Follow me on twitter!

Kundananji on Twitter

Finding My Voice

Finally! I talked with an editor over my manuscript, School Trouble, which he just recently finished going through. Now I know why most people do not really like editors. They can literally take your work apart—and your esteem too!

Humph! I thought my work was one of a kind, so it was quite discouraging when he told me that I still need to do a lot of work on it, and elevate it to exceptional levels, because, to quote him, the world will not buy ordinary, but rather, it will buy extraordinary.

However, I am glad that an editor took the time to look over my work and give me insightful hints. I have learnt a lot of things, and he brought to my attention things that I never really paid attention to. Yes, it there is still a lot of work to be done; a few loose screws to tighten up; places that need to be polished to a lustrous glow; so that the extraordinariness of the proverbial Luis Jones shines brilliantly.

One thing that really touched me, and the one thing that he really emphasized on, was the need to find my own voice. He was quick to observe that I am quite good at picking up expressions and phrases from books and conversations I hear and squeezing them into my work without really understanding what they mean. Embarrassingly, he is right over here. Each time I read a book, I learn something new. I observe the writer’s style and see how I can adapt it to my own ends. But the problem that often surfaces is the extent to which I adapt it.

It is fairly alright to glean from other people’s work. But we writers should aim at being original. Like I have often said in my articles, writers are creators. Not only do they create stories, but they also create expressions, particular styles and sometimes even words! Shakespeare is one of the greatest example of a creative genius. Yes, writers are creators and not merely recyclers of other people’s words, if I may put it that way.

This makes being a writer sound like a very difficult thing. In reality, however, it is not. If you think of writing as carrying out a conversation, then it simply boils down to how good you are at talking! Well, maybe not that easy, but I am sure you are catching the drift. The best conversationalists are those who are original; those who have learnt to find their own voice. Even if they are telling one of Chris Rock’s jokes, they tell it in their own particular way, voice and style and that can make it sound new alright!

The whole point really then is to learn to speak like yourself and not like someone else. Even if you get a few ideas from about everywhere (who doesn’t?), you need to adapt those ideas into your own particular style. Mark this point: you should not adapt your style to someone else’s; rather adapt someone else’s to yours.

You get it? Good.

So this is what I have learnt and so this is what I have to work on according to my good editor. (I have this gut feeling (picked up this phrase from my dad if you care to know) though that the good editor found some of my expressions so good that he concluded that they could not possibly be mine :) .

So onward with the work! Luis Jones and I have to do some final touches.  We are coming! Watch out for us.