Three Examples to Guide Your Narrative Voice

This post is a guest contribution from Mason Engel, an independent author filmmaker who has created a fascinating documentary called Books Across America. Read more about that below.

Lately, I’ve been hearing voices

I’m talking about author voices, real-life author voices during interviews.

I’m working on a documentary for book lovers called Books Across America. The film is about a crazy road trip when I traveled to 50 states, read 50 books, and interviewed 50 authors … all in 50 days.

So yes, I’ve heard a lot of author voices lately. I’ve read the prose of those authors, too. And you know what? Every author’s voice on the page was different than their voice in the interview. What’s up with that? A voice is a voice is a voice, isn’t it?

A previous post here defined what voice is. It discusses how writers develop it and whether they believe it’s a consciously honed skill, or an all-or-nothing instinct. A recent survey proves the diversity of authors’ views on the subject. During our nearly two months on the road, we experienced that diversity firsthand. In the interviews, of course, but, more interestingly, in the books themselves.

I’ll describe the narrative voice of three novels I read on the road, and point to…