writing – Virginia Martin

This is my second attempt in writing fiction. I was inspired to write the excerpt below, and I am not sure where it will go. It is the beginning of something that I hope turns into a novella, which is my goal. No working title yet.

“It started as a joke, plain and simple. He was in jail with lots of time on his hands. He was there because a woman put him there, unfairly, yet she had gotten away with it. And now, all women were going to pay the price, no matter the cost or how much their hearts broke. Vincent scrolled around, found several attractive women, and hit “friend request” on Facebook. One of these women, Virginia, looked innocent and sweet, the perfect target to start his plan; he lost everything and had nothing to lose. He did not care anymore about anything or anyone.

He heard the beep on the computer, that was fast, Virginia accepted, boy was she in for a ride. Women, he thought, so gullible and vulnerable, it was pathetic. He hardly had any information on his profile, and somehow someone had thought him worthy of being a “friend”. Vincent looked at Virginia’s profile page but was stuck on the profile picture. Those eyes, kind, yet mysterious at the same time, and the shape of her lips looked inviting. What was he doing? He was out for blood, not romance. He got his eyes away from her face. Focus he said to himself, he had to show no mercy, he hardened his heart, a heart that once was loving, full of trust, but shattered at the hands of a ruthless, cynical woman.

He sent Virginia a message and went on to the next one. He had 5 chat boxes open. He was curious to see which one would fall for his lies first; his charm would work to his advantage. Vincent dozed off while waiting for one of his victims to respond. It was getting late, and he had to shut down the computer before the guards called lights out. Before shutting down the computer, he had the urge to look at Virginia’s picture one more time. Why he didn’t know, but her eyes drew her to him. Just for that, he would work extra hard to twist her heart and make her fall in love with him. She would regret accepting his friend request, he would make sure of it.”

To be continued….

Guest post by author B.J. Tiernan

The question is: How do you know what your writing voice is? Does voice lead to writing ability and writing style or vice versa?

First, we need to understand what our ‘writing voice’ is. Your ‘writing voice‘ aka ‘writer’s voice‘ is as personal to you as your fingerprint. It is a direct reflection of your personality and what makes you unique and different from all other writers.

Each one of us has a unique style of speaking, a personal attitude, and a certain tone or inflection when we speak. When it comes to tone, you can hear it in two ways – the tone of your voice when you speak out loud and the silent tone you hear in your head. Both of these tones can vary, depending on the situation you find yourself in. Listen closely to both tones, for they make up your ‘writer’s voice.’

When you write, you want to allow your personality to shine through and write what feels comfortable and natural to you. In other words, you want to write the same way you talk.You don’t have to go in search of your writing voice, you already own it. It is within, but you must listen for it carefully. Pay attention. You can even make it a wakeful meditation to consciously hear the way you talk to others.

If you want to embellish your writer’s voice or change it in some way, you can read more. This way you can hear other author’s writing voices. Sometimes, you will find that you relate to or are drawn to a particular author’s writing voice over others. This may very well be because their writing voice is similar to your own. Reading other author’s can stretch you and move you in the direction you want to go.

When I wrote my first novel, I wrote in first-person and my main character was a male. Since I am female, I made it my occupation to sit in different coffee shops and restaurants and eavesdrop on men’s conversations. I wrote down their dialogue as I was hearing it in my Writer’s Notebook. This gave me some of the best samples of natural dialogue amongst men. It really helped. Don’t worry, I never divulged any of their secrets.

I believe that our writing voice does lead us to our writing ability and writing style. No matter what voice you decide to take up, yours or a combination of yours and someone else’s, you can be sure that your unique inner voice and personality will always shine through – in spite of you. Embrace it! That is what makes your voice different from everyone else’s.

“B. J. Tiernan graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from the University of Florida in 1972 and has been following her passion for teaching ever since. She is a retired sixth grade World History teacher who has also led various seminars, workshops, courses, and classes on writing for adults. She writes contemporary fiction to create a dialogue that gets her readers to ponder and question aspects of life, including living and dying and the merging of our dark and light sides. B. J. Tiernan dedicates her writing to all of her students who are hungry to tell their own stories through the written word.”

B.J. Tiernan is the author of Standing On A Whale and Yield. Her most recent book, Sizzler, is a collaboration with fellow author, Wolf Schimanski.

Tag: writing

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Our Writing Voice