How to Get Published

by Al Kalar

There are three viewpoints of most novels that are part of the author’s “voice”: first person, third person, omniscient. Once you pick one, stick to it; don’t change part way through OR (horrors) from chapter to chapter.

First person: The story is told from the viewpoint of a character.

“I did this.

I saw that.

I remember back when . . .”. (more…)

by Al Kalar

As an editor, I see a number of problems that either spell “rejection” or “more work for me - sigh”. This is the first of a series on those problems.

The problem of “voice” is actually a two-part problem:

1. The author’s voice
2. Character voice.

The author’s “voice”

The sum of how s/he writes non-dialog prose (or poetry). Word choices, sentence structure, slang, contractions, and unique ways of expressing things.

If you write your prose to exactly follow the rules of English, you can overdo it and end up sounding like the Queen of England, rather than a “regular person”. There is a pretty wide range of language use that the average reader will find to be acceptable, but if you go outside that range, you may alienate your audience. (more…)