Voice

Janet Evanovich's 15th Plum novel was released today. I, of course, picked it up at the bookstore 'cuz it's been on order for months. I also finished reading it in one sitting. Funny, it took her a year to write it and I read it in a few hours.

Anyway...

If Evan Hunter/Ed McBain were still alive, I'd have done the same thing with the pre-ordering and picking up on the day his latest book was released.

When I think VOICE, these two people immediately come to mind. They have totally different voices and they write about totally different things. They don't need to have their names affixed to a piece of work for me to recognize them, however. Their perspectives of the world are unique, as are those of their characters.

A lot of blogs have been discussing the topic Plot or Character lately and for me, it's always been VOICE. The plot could be the most intriguing thing to hit fiction in the past hundred years and if the author's voice doesn't grab me, I'm not interested. The character can sound appealing on the cover blurb, but if it isn't imbued with a distinctive voice, I don't really care about him or her.

Now that I think about it, Rex Stout's voice was especially strong in the Nero Wolfe series.

Voice is something editors and agents tell us we have to have, it's something we writers write about, but it's elusive. There aren't any How-Tos when it comes to Voice, as there are with POV, Plotting, Setting the Scene, etc. At least not that I've seen.

Do you have any tips or suggestions about VOICE?