Finding your voice

I was talking to a friend of mine tonight, who is currently working on her first book.  It's a non-fiction book discussing the various strange parts of history of her hometown -- a book she is quite passionate about, and, therefore, wants to make it as fun and interesting for the reader as she finds the topic.  As I was reading the book, one of passages sounded odd in my head, causing me to reread it several times.  Upon the third or fourth reread, I realized what was bugging me about the passage:  she had written it in a voice I simply had not heard before.  I asked her why she had written it like she had.  Her response was simple:  "I was trying to make it sound 'old-timey'."

Her logic was sound in a manner.  The story she was trying to tell was from the mid-1800s, and so it would make sense to a degree as to why she would opt to use a phrase like that.  However, she wasn't quoting a document from the time period, nor was she speaking in character.  She was, in fact, trying to use the "old-timey" vernacular as if it were her own.

To this, I asked her a simple question:  who is writing the book?  Her response, naturally, was "I am."  To this, I replied, "Then write it as if you're writing it."

Being an author, naturally, I have a lot of friends who are authors, and I talk to many throughout the typical week.  It's amazing how many my author friends get hung up on voice -- whether it's the voice of the character of the voice of the book itself.

Being both an author and critic, as I'm sure you can imagine, I have opinions on both topics.

VOICE OF BOOK

In terms of the voice of the book, assuming the book isn't told in the first person (see the next section for that), I reiterate the question I asked my friend earlier:  who is writing the book?

It may seem like an obvious question, one that may even seem silly on the surface.  But I have found that this is something that many independent authors struggle with, whether they're first-time authors or not.  When you're not a Stephen King or J.K. Rowling, voice is important.  Seeing that, with the invent of self-publishing, there are now more authors out there trying to be heard, so having a unique voice is more important than ever.

Let's put it this way:  if you bought a ticket to go see Jerry Seinfeld perform, would you want him to spend two hours doing his best Dane Cook impression?  More than likely not.  Why?  Jerry Seinfeld is not Dane Cook.  He's Jerry Seinfeld.  He has his own voice, his own material.  Let Mister Cook do his own schtick, Jerry.

While this seems like a silly example, it's something that I've noticed many budding authors are doing.  Instead of finding their own unique way of telling a story, it almost seems as though they want to pay such an homage to their favorite author, they mistake homage for blatant imitation.  This does not refer to story or themes, mind you.  This refers to flow, to dialogue, to voice.  If someone wanted to read George R.R. Martin, they would just buy one of his books, not an imitation of one.

VOICE OF CHARACTER

More than overall voice of a book, I find that many of my author friends struggle with finding the voice for their characters.  Would the character swear?  Is the character straight-forward or sarcastic?  Should I make them likeable?

When I write, this is where I tend to have the most fun.  Why?  Because I like to play a little game called "Shit My Character Says"

You may be laughing at the absurd title, but it's the best way to honestly know your character.  Here's how you play:

Step 1:  Picture your character.  Gender?  Age?  Occupation?  Their hobbies?  Their love life?  Their sex life?  Once you have this down, go to...

Step 2:  Picture yourself in a conversation with the character.  Ask a question to the character.  It could be as general as "How is your day today?", or as personal as "How are you dealing [whatever is going on in your book]?"

I find that your first instincts are correct.

Which leads me to discuss a topic that I've had several times, even well before I published Mild Mannered...

SHOULD MY CHARACTERS SWEAR?

If you play the little game I went over with you earlier, that usually will answer this question, but let's delve into it a little deeper.

Now, there are obvious times you probably don't want your characters to use strong language.  Like a children's book, for starters.  Now, barring the hilarious example of "Go the Fuck to Sleep", it's usually far from good taste to allow your characters to swear.  As funny as many would find it if Elmo and Big Bird started using such adult language on Sesame Street, the fact of the matter is that it the core audience (i.e., small children and their parents) would not find it as amusing.

However, as we leave such extreme examples, the areas become more and more gray.  For instance, many of my friends want to write in the Young Adult (or Y.A.) genres -- understandable, since both young readers and adult readers tend to pick up books from this line.  The great thing about this is that, because you're employing your own voice, you can answer this question yourself, and there are no wrong examples.

I, personally, have found it all depends on the author.  Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, for instance, is a perfect example of a series where cursing would seem out of place.  However, James Patterson's Witch and Wizard series seemed to unrealistically void of cursing.  So let me get this straight:  the characters listen to Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails (or at least bands that resemble them) and the characters don't swear?  Sorry, James.  Not buying it.

It also depends on the character.  Now, unless you're Garth Ennis, it's more than likely your priest character isn't going to be using phrases like "douche nozzle" or "fucktard".  Likewise, it's equally unlikely your grizzled Mike Hammer-like detective is going to say "Gee willackers!" whenever he's frustrated.

Look, don't get me wrong.  I understand every genre has a core audience, and that you need to respect that.  But that doesn't mean you have to dumb yourself down to lose your unique voice either.

While I don't relish in the fact I'm about to do this, take my book Mild Mannered as example.  It's a book revolving around superheroes.  If I went the normal route, I probably would have cleaned up the language, making the book a bit more digestible for all audience.  But that's just not how I write.  Look at Watchmen.  It's a graphic novel that revolves around costumed heroes, and it's far from kid-friendly.  There is graphic violence.  There is sex and nudity.  And, of course, there is strong language.  And why not?  These are not kid-friendly characters.  And, quite frankly, neither are the characters in my book.

Take our protagonist Paul.  He may be a brilliant young man, who can solve the most complex problems and puzzles.  But guess what?  He's still a young man.  He's obsessed with comic books and video games.  He speaks his mind.  He's sardonic and self-deprecating.  Why wouldn't he swear?  He just would.  It's in his nature.  Whether he's happy or frightened, whether he's ambivalent or frustrated, he's going to curse.

Did I play the "Shit My Character Says" game with Mild Mannered?  Of course I did!

Given what I just told you about Paul, would it surprise you that he has a shirt that says "Fuck me!  I'm a Time Lord!"?  It shouldn't.

With one of my favorite characters of the book, Eric "Stronghold" Fort, I pictured him as a Punisher-like character, who is grizzled, dark, and trigger-happy as hell.  But I wanted him to have a few quirks to make him interesting.  Granted, it was a bit surprising even to me when Fort blurted out at one point "Caffeine gives me nightmares", but that's how much fun that game can be if you're truly honest with yourself about your voice and your characters.

In the end, it may take you time to find your voice, and you may find yourself writing and rewriting a lot.  It sucks, I know.  But, as I said before, people want to buy your book, not someone else's.  So make sure you stay true to you.

Capes, Kryptonite, and Courage: The "Mild Mannered" Journey So Far...

What a very surreal position I find myself in...

Mild Mannered has now been on sale for a little under three months now, and the second on being released in about eight months from today, it's hard not to reflect on the strange, painful journey that has brought me here.

To be honest, the reason I chose to tell Mild Mannered now wasn't simply because I wanted to tell the story.  It's because, well, I needed something to do.  You see, just like any other budding author, I had a "day job".  For reasons that are my own, I will not disclose that employer or what I did for them, but I will say I was reasonably content with the job, though (just like any other budding author) my heart belonged to my craft.  After working for this employer for close to eighteen months, I wound up contracting whooping cough of all things, or "the cough of a thousand days" as the emergency room doctor informed me the Japanese call it.  I thought that was a neat fact.

What wasn't neat, however, was the persistent cough that decimated my voice to the point I could only speak in gravely whispers.  Because my job consisted of phone work, my job literally told me I was "of no use" to them, so they forced me to be on a short-term disability until the condition resolved itself.  The problem?  There is no cure for whooping cough.  Even after the cough subsided, I was still unable to speak for months.  

So, there I found myself, sitting around the house, watching shitty movies on Netflix (though it was nice catching up with Breaking Bad and Weeds...thanks Netflix!) and finding myself basically in quarantine (whooping cough is incredibly contagious).  My primary care physician, who has been one of the few beacons of light through this ordeal, told me to find something to do to occupy my time.  While my work with Examiner.com was filling about an hour a day, that still left far too much during the day in which I found myself left with. 

It was then I decided to write the first draft of Mild Mannered.  

Admittedly, I've always loved the idea of exploring the everyday lives of superheroes and their interactions with those without powers.  With such material like Alan Moore's Watchmen, NBC's Heroes and Chuck, and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the concept has been explored, but never the same way twice.  Hence the reason I chose the route I did with my books.  With the blueprints in my head, it was time to go to work.

Writing for roughly four or five hours a day, five or six days a week, the first draft of Mild Mannered was done in about two months.  It felt good to get it out there finally after incubating for over a decade, and I knew it wasn't going to be the last (even then, I had planned this to be a four-part series).  However, after being away from my day job for close to six months, I knew I was going back to work.  So, the completed book was left untouched for months.  

Apparently, the universe had a different plan for me, and, subsequently, the book.

Even after returning to work the following January of 2013, working severely reduced hours until mid-February, my voice was still fading in and out, causing me to have to miss more work, and being sent home several times in the process.  Finally, the higher-ups had had enough, and forced me to take another round of short-term disability to figure out what was wrong with me, and to not return until the problem has fully resolved.  As it turns out, the problem is that the previous whooping cough had strained my vocal cords, forcing me to go into vocal rehabilitation to fix it.  So, while that took another six months to take care of itself, I took advantage of the situation fully.  

Not only was this the Summer that such amazing films like Now You See Me, Pitch Perfect, and This is the End bowed, but it was the inaugural year of the Salt Lake Comic-Con (okay, it was in September, but who cares?).  The PR rep for the SLCC saw my articles from Examiner.com, and I was offered a press pass to cover the convention.  I humbly accepted the offer, of course.  While I went to different panels and events, covering all of them (including a chance to see Stan Lee talk...and yes, it was awesome), I took advantage of my time there, and took in a panel about how to make your living as a writer.

What did I find out?  Apparently, it's easier than ever to make it as a self-published author.  Thanks to the internet, and sites like CreateSpace and SmashWords, budding authors can finally avoid the hoop-jumping and red tape many publishing companies force first-time authors to go through, and they can finally get their stories out there for the masses themselves.

After meeting many of these authors, and knowing the keys to my fate were with me after all, I found renewed vigor, and a creative wave crashed violently into me.  Days after the SLCC, I went home and wrote.  And wrote.  And wrote!  Writing for eight to nine hours during the day, and then another four to six hours at night (depending on how much creative flow was going, how much caffeine was coursing through my veins, or, admittedly, how emotional the scenes made me).  The second installment's first draft was completed in just under a month and a half. 

Seeing that, in manuscript form, the second installment was nearly double in length what the first installment was, I opted to go back and take a look at Mild Mannered again to see what could be flushed out.  

The problem? 

Mild Mannered, in that rough draft, was shit.  While it was still enjoyable, when comparing it to the second installment, was horrid, and I could not, even with my considerable skill and experience, fix it.  

The solution?  Rewrite it!

Using the rough draft as a blueprint, I wrote day and night, trying to fix my mistakes (and there were PLENTY of them!).  Luckily, since I had technically already written it once, the new Mild Mannered was finished in about three weeks.  

By this time, it was mid-October, and I was about to return to work yet again.  While my voice wasn't perfect, I was steadily running out of disability, so I really had no choice.  No worries, though.  Both books' new drafts were completed, and I was ready to begin the marketing effort.  Mild Mannered was posted in its entirety on Wattpad, where it generated interest quite quickly, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I had it ready to take live on Amazon.

After blood, sweat, tears, and obscenities were shed, Yelena's amazing cover art for Mild Mannered was done, and the book went live on December 21st, 2013.  Okay, so there were SEVERAL remaining editing mistakes were left, and have now been fixed, but the fact that the book has sold one copy, much less as many as it's sold now, is amazing.

It's even more amazing, however, how the universe allows you to bask in one aspect of your life, and royally fucking over another in the same moment.  

As I sit here, writing these words, I have now been away from my job for about a month-and-a-half now, forced on a personal leave of absence after contracting a severe upper respiratory infection, and being told my job is no longer available to me.  So now, as I struggle to find a day job, watching old episodes of Scrubs and finding myself uncontrollably weeping about every other day (and not just from the show), I fear for my financial future and feel like a failure.

At least, that's what it was up until tonight.  

Even in the wake of several people either divisively speaking against self-publishing or spitting hateful barbs towards myself or other authors I respect, I find myself listening to amazing music and a smile with my face.  

I'm not a failure.

Sure, Mild Mannered isn't selling as greatly as I had hoped, but guess what?  I've sold copies.  Plural.  More than one.  That's something that some authors cannot say right now.  Hell, I've sold a copy internationally!  This is an amazing feeling!

I have people clamoring for the second installment already, and it doesn't come out until November.  I haven't even announced the title of the book yet.  That's powerful!

Look, the universe will often only give you the sign once of what you should be doing.  After truly thinking about it, I can honestly say that the universe has fortunately given me three chances to finally do what I want to.  This is an amazing opportunity, and I'm sure as hell not going to squander it.

I'm not a failure.

I'm not mild mannered.

I'm a fucking superhero.

While I know it's been close to three months since you've heard from me before tonight, mark my words:  this is not the last you've heard of Will Cohen.

I'm currently working on the third installment of the Mild Mannered series, as well as some other good stuff, so, please, by all means, stay tuned.  I know you won't regret it.