human. We kind of think the voice is the narrator. It certainly helps if the stories are riveting, but a great voice renders the dullest event remarkable.
Mary Karr • The Art of Memoir
Saved by Alex Dobrenko
human. We kind of think the voice is the narrator. It certainly helps if the stories are riveting, but a great voice renders the dullest event remarkable.
The actual words we say to people are far less important than how we say them. We all intuitively understand that some people are captivating to listen to or be around—while others are unpleasant and make us feel uncomfortable.
Stephen W. Porges • Our Polyvagal World
our brains prepare, we are alert to experience what a story can provide, and by listening expose ourselves to the sound of the language, allowing it to communicate to the tonally sensitive areas of our brain through the inflections and higher harmonics of the voice.
Sally Mallam • The Oral Tale
It’s about how a story-teller, any good story-teller anywhere, works.
Kurt Vonnegut • Kurt Vonnegut
In a first-person narrative, you are stuck with this one voice. Therefore this character, or at least her point of view (POV), must be engaging.
Walter Mosley • This Year You Write Your Novel
When I say that you must be true to this narrator’s voice, I mean, among other things, that you can’t change her personality to fit the story. She cannot read the minds of other characters; she can know only what she has experienced or learned. And she is limited by her circumstances
Walter Mosley • This Year You Write Your Novel
we who tell stories should be modest about the job, and not assume that just because the reader is interested in the story, they’re interested in who’s telling it.