The elusive voice thingy

I was pretty much thinking I had nothing to write about today. I've been rolling around what I wanted to say and coming up with nothing all day.

I've been writing alot again. Well, today I only got 1100 words, but I played alot. One thing I learned in Barbara Samuel's Girls in the Basement class is that play is good for the muses. And, frankly, with the schedule I've kept all my life, I haven't done enough of it. I've felt guilty when I did. I'm trying to change that.

I could write about play, but I won't. I'm going to write about voice -- that elusive quality that everyone says they want from new writers but which no one can adequately define.

The whole gang here is planning to take Barbara's voice class in August. I can hardly wait. It's like knowing what you want for Christmas several months out and then just being stuck looking at pictures of it while you count down the days.

In thinking about voice, a question was recently posed to me. Actually, a few. I'll pose them to you.

Why are you writing?

That one was pretty easy. I have stories to tell. Imaginary people run around in my head, and they want me to give them life. Who am I to say "no?" (Yes, to most non-writers this seems a crazy concept, but for all of you who write, you say, "Yes, I know the feeling.")

Then, why now? Why not at some other point in your life?

That question is harder. I've thought about writing forever. However, being the practical girl, there were always things that HAD to be done. The WANT TO's seemed to get put off. I moved this up to a HAVE TO, instead of a WANT TO. There was a point when I realized I'd cut myself off from the highly creative part of me. I wasn't whole. Writing fills the spaces that were empty. It sounds both simple and vague. It is. It's one of those intangibles that's hard to put into words.

Why write?

("Ok," I said, "uh, I already answered that.")

No, really, you haven't. Why write what you write? What drives you to tell your stories the way you do? What is the reason behind the stories? What's your big picture?

Oh, my theme. My over-riding theme. Hmmm.

Well, I haven't been writing forever. What I have are incomplete stories and ideas -- lots and lots of ideas that I can't wait to put to paper. However, as I explore these ideas and what the stories are really about, I actually do see a "why".

I write quests, journeys, missions to find out. I write about looking for something you don't have, about finding meaning in chaos, about revealing what's in the dark corners. In every quest, there is a distinctly evil entity and a distinctly good one. Not black and white, light and dark. More like black and gray. The hero/heroine isn't completely in the white. They are iffy. But part of their journey is discovering that they are the good guys and that they have the power to defeat the bad ones. Even my personal blog says, "Writing is a journey. This is the story of mine." Journeys are why I write. I want to tell the story of change and discovery and the ultimate triumph of good. To me, love is the highest good.

It makes sense why I write romance, huh?

I don't think my journey to discover this voice thing is over. It's only beginning. But, I've begun my quest.

Begin yours. Why write the stories you write? (Don't tell me that it's because you love history or vampires or good sex scenes.) Why do you write your themes? I really think that's a key to your voice.

What's your reason for writing? What is it you're ultimately trying to communicate?

Macy