Basically, it’s trying to listen too much to external directives and not enough to internal ones.

Thanks so much for explaining. I’m wondering now if maybe the reason this happens more with commercial fiction is because it relies more on the external validation of sales, and therefore these writers feel that they need to pitch their voices to the marketplace?

It sounds like some writers need to have more confidence in their natural voices and protect those voices’ individuality.

That means–shockingly!–that not everyone will like the work.

LOL! It’s ironic that the motivation for eradicating uniqueness is to be liked by everyone, because there I’ve yet to hear of an author whom every reader likes, and also because several of the authors I’ve quoted above are loved by readers.

Sounds to me a little like the kids who try too hard to fit in at junior high by blending in and following the trends, and are rarely as popular as the kids with the confidence to display their individuality.

When I teach voice, my only goal is to cut away all the shoulds and musts and you can’t do thats and let writers play and explore their own passions and rhythms.

I think you’re doing an important service to readers and I hope lots of writers take your class.

I feel fiercely that great stylists are born, not made, but can be killed by the homogenizing pressures that sometimes plague commercial fition.

Can you elaborate more on how this happens?

I’m traveling (teaching a voice class this weekend, as it happens) so I’m popping in from a hotel. The homogenizing pressures are not an organized conspiracy, of course, just a lot of elements bearing down on aspiring (and sometimes already published) writers to iron out the quirks that make their voices unique. Critique groups have already been mentioned. Trying to follow too many edicts from the writing conference circuit. Basically, it’s trying to listen too much to external directives and not enough to internal ones. (And believe me, I am not saying writers don’t need editors–we do, we do, we do.)

While writers do need to understand mechanics and good construction, they also need to honor their own uniqueness and hone it to the highest possible level. That means–shockingly!–that not everyone will like the work. I think of the first time I read Stephanie Plum–not a voice that was going to work in category romance or in any number of other realms, but it’s so breezy and funny and earthy that there’s no denying the appeal.

When I teach voice, my only goal is to cut away all the shoulds and musts and you can’t do thats and let writers play and explore their own passions and rhythms. We all speak differently, hear differently, perceive differently. One is a poet, another a rubbery shark, another a fey little thing with airy robes. Each will appeal to a different sort of reader. Luckily, there are lots and lots of readers. I just want each style to be as strong as possible within its own context.

Laura, when I posted that I thought it might sound exactly the way you thought it did. I should have looked closer at it and tried to fix it. Of course reading my quote in your post made me realize I could have added “too “or “because” after “I loved both”. Oops.

Janine, I meant exactly what you meant but just didn’t clarify it. Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply you felt that way about the genre and it’s style. I just wanted to reply to one of your original questions as to why fewer authors write with that particular lyricism. Now that I look back it wasn’t even a question in your post but somewhere in the comments that I was refering to anyway.

Oh well, I guess I need to buff up my proof reading skills.

The original post was about why writers, maybe romance or genre writers in particular, don’t use style as a tool in most of their writing.

I don’t think that’s what I was trying to say. Everyone who writes uses style of some kind. I was asking why the more lyrical style of writing is so much more difficult to find in this genre, why there are so many more books written in a kind of nuts-and-bolts voice. I have enjoyed books written in a wide variety of styles, but I love those lyrical romances and I would love to read more of them.

Oh dear, maybe I wasn’t clear. When I said that I prefer the King James Version I wasnt’ saying I prefer the Bible quotation to the Stephen King quotation. They’re different in some ways, similar in others and I like both. What I was meaning was that where style and language are concerned I prefer the King James Version of the Bible to other versions of the Bible.