A 3-Part Workshop on Voice & Style in Fiction
In storytelling, the telling matters as much as the story. A barnburner of a story will not hold readers’ interest if the voice telling that story is inconsistent, flat, or a poor match for its subject. On the other hand, readers will happily spend time with a compelling voice—bold or subtle—if it is well-crafted, coherent, and matched to its material. Voice also emerges from page one, before it’s clear if the plot is going to sing or the characters shine. Because it provides such a quick measure of a writer’s skill and control, readers, publishers, and agents all rely heavily on voice when they’re deciding whether to read on.
Ultimately, a writer’s ability to craft a clear, coherent, and compelling voice comes down to how deftly she creates a variety of sentences. The differences between any two narrative voices are differences of diction and syntax, usage and grammar. It is no accident that the word “style,” when applied to prose, can serve as both a general term for the tenets of writing well (e.g., a style guide) or to the distinct voice of an individual writer or work (e.g., Toni Morrison’s style).
Participants will explore the strong connection between these two meanings of the word “style,” discussing the fundamentals of effective prose and looking at excerpts by writers such as Morrison, David Mitchell, Kurt Vonnegut, Elif Batuman, David Foster Wallace, Angela Carter, Lorrie Moore, and Rebecca Curtis to consider how technical proficiency allows the creation and control of narrative voice. Participants will also examine the style of their own in-progress work to better understand which technical choices make their voice sound the way it does, and they will receive feedback from their instructor and classmates on how they might accentuate and strengthen that voice to more compellingly tell their story.
+ SUBMIT After registering, participants are asked to submit 1,000 words or less of an in-progress short story or novel by no later than 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 2. Please take this deadline and word limit seriously as late submissions likely cannot be accepted, and excess words will be cut. Please note that these manuscripts will be distributed in advance via email to the other workshop participants. Please email the manuscript to hannah@mainewriters.org with the subject line: “MERRILL WORKSHOP MSS.” *Please use standard formatting (1” margins, double-spaced, 12 pt Times New Roman), and Word docs (ideally) or PDFs only.
Judson Merrill grew up in Maine, studied literature and writing at Brown University, and received his MFA from Brooklyn College, where he also taught writing for several years. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Iowa Review, Chicago Review, The Massachusetts Review, The Southampton Review, Unstuck, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and other publications. He has been an Artist in Residence at Millay Colony, Ox-Bow, Lighthouse Works, Guild Hall, and Hewnoaks. He now teaches at the University of Southern Maine.
ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED
All MWPA workshops require advanced registration. We accept registration by phone, mail, and online via PayPal. We cannot guarantee registration in the final 24-hours before a workshop, and can rarely accommodate day-of registration.
PAYMENT & CANCELLATION POLICIES
If you need to withdraw from a class after registering for any reason, please email or call the MWPA immediately. You may be eligible for a partial refund or credit, depending on how far in advance you cancel.
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QUESTIONS
For any questions regarding this workshop, please contact Hannah Perry at hannah@mainewriters.org.
REGISTER BY PHONE
Call 207-228-8263 and register with your VISA or MasterCard.
REGISTER BY MAIL
If you prefer to pay by mail, please print this registration form (downloadable PDF below) and mail it to the MWPA with a check or credit card information.
SCHOLARSHIP
The MWPA is proud to offer two full scholarships to this workshop for members-only. Scholarships are awarded on a combination of need and merit. Application Due on March 30 at 9:00 a.m.
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MWPA WORKSHOP POLICIES
Registration in any MWPA workshop, program, or event constitutes your agreement to our terms and conditions.
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