Friday, October 15, 2004

Narrative Voice as Broken Record

Dave White's latest blog entry discusses the importance of voice in writing, using Robert B. Parker's MELANCHOLY BABY as one example.

I've learned a lot reading Parker myself, but I had to comment:

You've heard this from me before. Parker has fallen into bad habits. Different characters use the same dialogue, same jokes, in multiple books:

"Good to know."

"We'd be fools not to."

Repetitiveness distracts me from voice. The only explanation I can think of for the naturally pithy Parker repeating himself: no one tells him he is.

If no one reminds you what you need to work on for a while, it's easy to believe you don't need to work.

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