Author's Voice

Hello everybody!!! I'm really excited because it is a snow day! The first one in forever (or at least that's what it seems like).

Okay, so like I said in my earlier post, I've reading this book called Incarceron, which is about two characters that are on two separate plot lines, but have a connection. This connection involves a prison that is alive. Incarceron. I don't know about you, but just saying the name of this prison just creeps me out. In my earlier post, I talked about how I really enjoyed the vivid descriptions that the author gave of the setting. The settings (especially Incarceron) sent chills down my back. I hope that one day I will be able to give so much detail in a piece of writing that it makes a person feel chills or different emotions.

Sorry, I'm getting way off track. Where was I?? Oh, yeah, now I remember. The vivid descriptions are not the only thing that I love about this book. I also like the author's voice. By definition, authors voice is "the individual writing style of an author, a combination of...usage of syntax, diction, punctuation, character development, dialogue, etc., within a given body of text (or across several works)"(Wikipedia). I also think that author's voice is unique to the individual, and I think that authors should take full advantage of each of these techniques listed to make them stand out from other authors.

I find that I enjoy writing that is unique to the individual more than writing that is formal and structured. Sure, being formal and structured is good for staying focused and professional, but I don't see anything wrong with using blogger to be more casual when writing about books. We write a lot of formal, structured, and organized pieces in school, and I think it is nice to, for once, be casual and informative at the same time. It's like magic.

So, Catherine Fisher, the author if this book, decides to use a variety of structure, syntax, and diction to create an unique style that I absolutely adore. Her style is similar to Ray Bradbury because she uses syntax to convey a feeling (mood, tone). This enhances the text and involves the reader with the story. Here's an example of what I mean by author's voice, "Cautiously, taking infinite pains to keep the rustle of the leaf-litter down, he tugged the Key from his pocket. It was cold, frosted with cold. His fingers left smeared imprints on it...No lights moved in it. He dared not speak louder...The storm raged. It whined in his teeth and nerves. He closed his eyes and felt despair, that he had imagined all of it, that the girl did not exist..." (Fisher, 117). The short sentences create a tense and anxious feeling, but the longer sentences add detail, and keep the reader aware of what is happening. Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451 also uses syntax to influence his readers, "Montag shook his head. He looked at a blank wall. The girl's face was there, really quite beautiful in memory: astonishing, in fact. She had a very thin face like the dial of a small clock seen faintly in a dark room in the middle of a night when you waken to see the time and see the clock telling you the hour and the minute and the second, with a white silence and a glowing, all certainty and knowing  what it has to tell of the night passing swiftly on toward further darknesses, but moving also towards a new sun." (Bradbury, 8). Bradbury uses the long sentence and metaphor to describe and emphasize the girl's face. He also uses one long (really long) sentence to avoid breaking up the metaphor and the visualization of this metaphor.

I have found that the use of author's voice really helps me stay interested in text. That's probably why some authors are better than others. Authors that are really exceptional tend to have an individual style and a true passion for writing. Think about it, if somebody were to argue a point that they didn't believe, nobody would listen because that said person doesn't have a true belief in that side of the argument. In other words, the lack passion and the voice to make people want to listen.

Another long post, and some of you still don't read all of it. That's okay, I was told that I tend to keep talking unless somebody starts talking over me or stops me from saying another word. But, I still have interest in hearing your opinion on author's voice. I know that I have a very strong opinion about the topic, and I want to figure out if anybody else shares the same opinion.

Have an awesome weekend!