The Challenge of Voice Fiction by John Vorhaus
THE CHALLENGE OF VOICE FICTION
by John Vorhaus
My new novel, LUCY IN THE SKY, is a coming-of-age story set
in Milwaukee in 1969, and the writing of it presented some challenges that none
of my other books (light mystery and non-fiction) ever did. For one thing, I’m
working in a new genre, something I call “voice fiction,” by which I mean,
simply, writing with something to say. In order to accomplish my goal of having
something to say, though, I had to be prepared to confront an issue that many
authors struggle with: the matter of telling other people what to think.
Philosophically, I have no problem with this. As a longtime teacher of writers,
I have consistently taught that, in a fundamental sense, writers are there to
explain things to readers. Basically, that’s our job. So this notion of
“telling other people what to think” is an implicit part of the package you
accept when you first put fingers to keys.
That said, there’s still an emotional risk in telling my
readers, “Hey, you know what? Being a hippie isn’t about love beads and peace
signs. It’s about the choices you make and the stands you take. That’s what’s
important, and that’s what you should pay attention to.” So that’s me taking a
stand, and I can’t help feeling nervous that someone, somewhere, will say,
“Where the heck do you get off telling me what to think, what to do? Who gave
you that right?” Well, I gave me that right – responsibility, really – when I
became a writer. Still it makes me edgy. At such times I remind myself that
part of what a writer must do is just “throw it out the window and watch to see
if it lands.” So I throw and I watch. and I hope to be understood.
Another issue with Lucy
is that it’s an emotional memoir. I was not
a hippie, but I always wanted to be one, and much of what goes on in this
book involves me channeling of a set of experiences and insights that I wished
I’d had at that age in that time. I know that every book I write is at least
partly autobiographical, and therefore a challenge to my self-acceptance, but this
one took that idea and turned it on its head, for in Lucy, I’m not talking about myself but about a fantasy, idealized
version of myself. At times during the writing I couldn’t tell whether I was
engaged in storytelling or just wishful thinking. (Well, that’s why God
invented editors.)
My third issue is my market. Lucy in the Sky is a coming-of-age story, no doubt. As such, it
should appeal to young adult readers and adult fans of YA material. And I think
it really does. At the same time, though, it’s about the 1960s, about hippies
and, in a certain sense, about innocence lost a long time ago. It should, then,
also appeal to people like me: people who were hippies or near-hippies and who
wish to be in touch with those times and those feelings again. At the end of
the day I claim that the book is “a sixties trip for young seekers and old
geezers alike,” but I do worry that, from a promotional point of view, that
puts me sort of neither here nor there.
How do I resolve all these conflicts? By talking about them
and writing about them and posting them in places like this place here (and
thanks and all hail to 2readornot2read for letting me drop in). I don’t imagine
that this post will sort out all my issues. When I’m done writing this guest
blog, I’ll still have insecurity about taking responsibility for my vision,
telling the truth of my experience, and selling that truth to an uncertainly
defined audience. Yet I’ll feel better for having written (I always feel better
for having written), and I hope you’ll have a little better insight into what
goes through the mind of a writer when he crafts and sells his precious gift –
his gift of words on the page.
Winston Churchill said, “Writing a book is an adventure. To
begin with, it is a toy and an amusement; then it becomes a mistress, and then
it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are
about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him
out to the public.” So this is me, flinging Lucy
to the public. You can sample her, and purchase her in print, ebook and
author-narrated audio, at www.tinyurl.com/Lucy1969,
and judge for yourself whether what I’ve thrown out the window has managed to
land.
John Vorhaus has published
damn near 20 titles, including five novels and a dozen books on poker. His
comedy writing book, The Comic Toolbox, is
considered a classic how-to book for writers, and will be making money for
someone long after he’s dead, buried and gone. He tweets for no apparent reason
@TrueFactBarFact and secretly controls the world from www.johnvorhaus.com.
"the isness of it all!"
jv's new novel LUCY IN THE SKY available now!
website: johnvorhaus.com
blog: johnvorhaus.com/blog
twitter @TrueFactBarFact
amazon author page: amazon.com/author/jv
"the isness of it all!"
jv's new novel LUCY IN THE SKY available now!
website: johnvorhaus.com
blog: johnvorhaus.com/blog
twitter @TrueFactBarFact
amazon author page: amazon.com/author/jv
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