The Loudest Voice

I know I don't need to rehash what happened December 14th, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. That moment, like all other tragedies (Columbine, Virgina, Tech, 9/11, Oklahoma City), are burned into our collective consciousness. They are moments that change our perspective, shattering preconceived notions of what is and isn't possible. We see the darkness that lurks in humanity as it rears its head and snuffs out the light of innocence.

That day, the world mourned. My twitter feed changed from "Check out this book" or some other miscellaneous blurb about life, to shock, pain, fear, anger, and tears. Parents wanting to pick up their children and hold them tight knowing that so many children were lost that day. Losing a child is the greatest fear that any parent, myself included, can experience. That fear is amplified when we are confronted with a tragedy of this magnitude. The senseless loss of innocence.

As with all tragedies the fear turns to politics. How are we going to protect ourselves and our children from horrible people? What new laws must be enacted? Politicians have already started wrangling their viewpoints to a nation in mourning. It was all over FB and Twitter too.

I assure, this post isn't about politics. It isn't about rights. It isn't about pointing fingers.

It's about the victims.

It doesn't, ultimately, matter how, or why, it just happened. A horrific tragedy. That day hatred roared into our lives with the voice of a 100 gunshots.

A tweet passed through my timeline from a friend. I can't remember the exact words used, but it was along the lines of that there was so much hatred in the world that she didn't even want to be a part of the human race anymore.

My immediate response was to give her a virtual hug (I was giving out a lot of those in lieu of real ones). Then I told her "There is more love in the world than hate. Hate just has a louder voice."

Let me say that again...

THERE IS MORE LOVE IN THE WORLD THAN HATE. HATE JUST HAS A LOUDER VOICE.

I tried to get this out to people. Asking for people to retweet the message that we need to make love's voice louder. It won't end hatred, but it can make love's voice louder, so that when hatred roars, love sings above it.

So, here is what I'm asking you, my dutiful readers. Send a message of hope, love, or kindness. Use the hashtag #LovesVoice be it on Twitter, Email, or Facebook. Sometimes the simplest things can change a person's life. Send the message to someone who needs it. Send it because you can. Send messages of love or thankfulness, it doesn't matter. Just say it. Anything positive to brighten someone's day. Let's see if we can get this going somewhere.

And maybe, just maybe, Love's Voice will be louder.

And here's a start. 26 Moments That will Restore Your Faith in Humanity.

'Till next time.

UPDATE: My friend Jaime Dement over at WriteBackwards did a wonderful post about giving to those in need. You should head over and check it out.

UPDATE: Saw this beautiful video by Shane Kyczan talking about being bullied. Has an amazing message.

Finding a Voice With Which to Write

It's interesting that there are so many books about plot, character development, setting, etc, yet not that many talk about voice.  Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places, but I would think that this would be one of the more important concepts in writing.  Finding your voice is important.  It's what defines you as a writer.  It is unique, like a fingerprint.  It is wholly you.  When you read it, others will say, "This is that writer".

Stephen King mentioned it in an essay in his book, Night Shift.  He referred to it as "filters".  He explained that he didn't write horror fiction because he wanted to, but rather, that is just what came out.  He gave the analogy that if he and Lois L'Amour were to sit on opposite sides of a pond that they would come up with story ideas about the same time.  The difference being that L'Amour would come up with a story about water rights in the Old West.  Whereas he, King, would come up with something involving monsters living in the water that would eat anyone that happened by.  What King describes is the concept of "voice".  It isn't necessarily a "choice", but rather "what comes out".  Some might find this concept a little restraining.  After all, we all want to be masters of our destiny.  The reality being, that human beings do what comes more naturally.  We can step out of that "box", but what we create doesn't always look, or feel, natural to us or others.

When I was in college in my music composition class, I remember writing one successful piece of music.  Successful in that the teacher thought it was good and not, as he would call it, "mental masturbation".  Crude though that statement was, it did make its point.  The piece was called "River Fanfare" and was, in my humble opinion, rather nice.  However, what really frustrated me was that my professor mentioned that it reminded him of Aaron Copland.  Now some might find my frustration humorous.  After all, Aaron Copeland is an American icon.  Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of Copeland.  I liked his music, but I didn't love it, not like the European masters that I grew up with (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, etc.).  I wanted to write like they did.  The reality was, however, that every time I tried to write like them, I would fail.  I wouldn't be able to express what was in my head the right way, and as a result, never finish it.  My professor would call it "crap" and I would ultimately give up on my dream to be a music composer.  The rest, they say, is history.

In my very short career as an aspiring writer, I've submitted two stories to publishers (see my blog post on dealing with rejection for the sordid tale).  Both stories were children's stories.  From the feedback I've gotten from friends and family, they are good (now if I could only convince a publisher!).  The second story, Sir Grumpsalot, really surprised me.  It was light, cute, and downright silly.  It wasn't what I would consider "me".  After all, two of my favorite authors are Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King.  So it was doubly surprising when a good friend of mine, who is also a writer, told me that I had found my voice.  She read it to her children and they even said, "Wow that sounds just like how he talks".

So, now I've found my voice, what does that mean?  Does it mean that I'm supposed to write silly kids stories my entire career?  Or is "voice" more complex than just a simple, this is what you should write all the time?  Sometimes I wonder if I have more questions now than when I started.  I guess if it was easy, it wouldn't be fun.

Till next time.