Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Keeping the voice

I finally began in earnest today on the refinement of Turbulence. Getting rid of the rough edges and questionable passages. Making the story clear while keeping the voice.

This is very important. Writing is more than stringing words together in a grammatically correct fashion. To write is to give vibrancy to a character. And each character has his or her own way of speaking and thinking.

So my editor did give me a few suggestions for smoothing out some passages. I've already conquered the most difficult. While I was doing this, I remembered that it is very certainly not only what you say, but how you say it.

Whatever you do, always remain true to your characters.

2 comments:

NiqaabiQueen said...

As-salaamu Alaykum, sweety. How are you? I have not been to visit in a while. I have been extremely busy, masha-Allah. I pray that your ramadhaan is running smoothly. Insha-Allah I will be checking in more often.

P.S. I have always thought that the process of writing a book to be a tedious, exausting one, but you make it sound so easy, interesting and fun, masha-Allah.

Jamilah Kolocotronis said...

It's great to hear from you. I hope your Ramadan is going well.

Writing is fun for me. I can let my imagination run wild. Maybe you'll try it some day. My best advice is to just jump in and not worry about where you're going. You can always make revisions once the story is written.