When I received
the pink binder back from Lauren, one of my trusty readers and informal editors, I noticed several instances in which she had circled a word, phrase, or passage and marked: "voice" in the margin. When Lauren and I got together to talk about my manuscript, she explained that she marked "voice" whenever she felt the text was inconsistent with how Sarah, the 15-year-old protagonist, would talk to the other characters or observe the world around her. In the same vein, there were times when Lauren thought my manuscript sounded too mature for a YA audience. She thought I should
(for lack of a better phrase) "dumb it down."
Lauren is not your average reader. I consider her to be hyper-observant and, in a very good way, picky. She pointed out "mistakes" in my manuscript that had me slapping my palm against my forehead and, for the past two weeks, I've been spending every free moment revising. When my other two binders come back to me, I'll revise yet again. When all is said and done, I will have revised my manuscript in detail at least four different times.
I wonder, though, if other readers take voice into consideration when reading a book. Do they understand who is telling the story? It's not the author; rather, it's the characters. The author is just the vehicle for them to do so. Although I don't believe this totally excuses bad writing or a poorly-constructed plot on the author's part, it's the astute reader who can make allowances because of the characters' unique voices.
Sarah's voice in The Seventh Tribe would be completely different if she were 25, instead of 15. However, I'm intentionally writing the story for girls aged 13 to 18. Therefore, if an adult picks up the book, reads it, and then complains that the writing is horrible, I'm going to take that with a grain of salt. The Seventh Tribe was never meant to be enjoyed by adults in the first place. BUT . . . I hope those same adult readers who read my book will have enough consideration for my work not to dismiss it altogether or pan me as an author.
When my husband agreed to read Twilight and New Moon as a primer to The Seventh Tribe, which I consider to be of the paranormal genre, I often had to remind him to try to put himself in the shoes of a teenage girl. "Bella's disgustingly devoted to Edward," he complained. "All she does is talk about how good-looking he is and how she can't live without him." Well, yes. That's the nature of the relationship between a vampire and his human: blind devotion; irrational love; unhealthy addiction. And, um, I can remember being the same way when I was that age.
*Tangent alert* I was just about to write: "But at least the guys I dated couldn't hurt me." And then I thought, well that's a load of crap. The guys I dated did hurt me - not physically, but emotionally. Every single guy I've ever (seriously) dated broke up with me. Hard to believe, but true. And yeah, I felt like throwing myself down on the forest floor and slipping into a state of semi-consciousness for the rest of my life. Also, I'm sure I appeared catatonic and withdrawn while I got over the pain and humiliation of having been dumped. I wasn't one of those girls who could just buck up and move on. My self-esteem wasn't that good, after all. And such is my love an devotion to my husband of nearly eleven years that I would be absolutely distraught should he all-of-a-sudden tell me that we're no good for each other; see ya later. (as Edward does to Bella in New Moon) I understand Bella's attraction to Edward and her subsequent longing for him when he leaves her. Is it healthy? No. But it's real.
Sarah has a love interest in The Seventh Tribe, although she's not nearly as addicted to him as Bella is of Edward. However, I attribute that to the fact that Adrian is a mere human and not some vampire with uncanny powers of persuasion. Still, I had to assume the role of a 15 year old and try to imagine how Sarah would react to Adrian, what she would say to him, how she'd interpret those unfamiliar, yet powerful, feelings of attraction. And while the writing might sound "cheesy" to some adults and they might misinterpret me as a talentless writer because of it, at least I can have faith that I stayed true to Sarah and her voice.