Swanwick 2017 - Sunday: Finding a Voice

My Voice will Go With You

As I was looking through the Swanwick programme, I was lamenting the fact that all the short courses being taught on the Sunday sounded really interesting. Given that I lacked Hermione's Time Turner, I eventually settled on a course titled My Voice Will Go With You, hosted by Bridget Holding.

Advertised as philosophical and psychological, this course was looking at the concept of having a unique voice as an author. This included a look at how to make writing authentic, discussing the authors who inspire us, and what we are the most afraid of writing as a means to develop this voice.

Sitting through the course, I've been wondering if I could put my "voice" to paper. Well, first of all, I have a fondness for the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories of Fritz Leiber: Two fantasy heroes with a realistic chemistry between them, written to be closer to human nature than the other fantasy heroes of the time. But that's Fritz Leiber, so here's my voice: Growing up, I was often told that 17 is the age you're supposed to enjoy life. Unfortunately, this notion was dashed by doing A Levels - always an exam or coursework around the corner - and then immediately going into the world of work. So, not much time to "live" there. The kind of pressure from both, along with the seemingly "all work and no play" attitude they both convey has left me somewhat bitter, and I guess I wanted to convey this bitterness as a voice: A desire to be irresponsible, but acknowledging the destructive side of such a desire. And because I'm afraid of reality, I'll fit this in a swashbuckler series with two characters who convey both sides of the voice.

Anyway, that was Sunday's course. In the evening they had a poetry open mic night. I'm not a poet myself, but there was some really poignant verse being read out at this. Although I must admit that the main lounge does get quite stuffy after a while. Fortunately, the other evening events were moved to the main conference hall because of this.

Oh, while I'm still here, I'll mention that I didn't attend the speaker sessions after dinner. I tend not to because I find that the bar is a lot quieter then and I can get some decent writing done.