I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Penguin magical realism author, Tabitha Bird, during our Sunday night Alumni Time to Write session. The topic of our talk was ‘voice.’ No coincidence there. Anybody who has read Tabitha’s books will be struck by the delightful ‘voice’ within all her work. In both Tabitha’s books -- A Lifetime of Impossible Days and The Emporium of Imagination -- she has accessed such a sweet, authentic, way of expressing her characters. How did she do that? How did she find such a unique voice? And how can you find yours?
Tabitha explained that much of her own personal journey is in both her books. But how much of yourself do you reveal in your work, especially if your journey has been difficult? Is there a ‘too much’ when it comes to revealing your own personal story in your characters, stories and novels? Leaving memoir aside for the moment (though these tips are deeply applicable to memoir too), how do we face the worry of possibly putting too much of ourselves in our characters?
‘That first draft is all for you. You can be as honest and vulnerable as you like in the first draft because that’s not what is going to be published. So that’s where you can let your voice just roll out of you. Without fear. The only one who will read that first draft is you. Then when you are going back through it during the editing stages you can potentially say things in a different way. A way that creates more space between your own reality and your character.’
Tabitha says it’s enormously therapeutic to write your own emotional truth first, then sift out either what you don’t want to be exposed or what’s not serving your character later. She asks ‘How close do you want to get to your own real story? Because to be vulnerable doesn’t mean that you have to tell your story. To be honest, doesn’t mean you have to tell all the facts of your own story. You can be honest by telling the emotional truth and have all the emotional integrity without having to actually say the specifics of what you went through.’
If you are wrestling with a story that in many ways draws from your own life experience, as in, you are using fictional characters and a fictional story to say something you’ve always wanted to say, being totally honest at first will help you find your voice. Don’t try and sound like anybody else. Write your own truth, then edit later. Be your own true, beautiful, and authentic self first. What we gleaned from Tabitha is that to find your own special sound, write from a place of complete sincerity.
‘I am writing my own emotional truth – yes – the emotional journey did really happen but the actual story you are reading did not.’
In our Brisbane Art of Writing retreat from February 9-12 Tabitha will explore the power of our own stories to create deeply meaningful fiction.
This special class is called Play with Purpose:
Penguin Random House magical realism novelist Tabitha takes us through how writing is not only about creating stories, but also about using your unique sense of wonder and personal history to give your work an emotional punch. In this workshop, we’ll explore the power of our own stories to create deeply meaningful fiction that inspires others to use their imagination. Tabitha Bird will walk participants through a series of out-of-the-box exercises designed to ignite your imagination, embrace the importance of play in the practice of writing and move past any feelings of being ‘stuck’ in your work. You are invited to explore joyous, hands-on activities using all your senses to create story. In the process, we’ll unearth the emotional truth in your own lived experiences to add emotional resonance to your fictional world.
There is only one true way to develop your natural voice, and that is to practice writing and work at being as honest as possible to who you are and how you would say something. For some writers, this will naturally make their writing spare; for others, it may become super colloquial***
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If you’d like to share any comments or thoughts, I’d be happy to hear from you. Email me directly at lisacliffordwriter@gmail.com.