Storystorm 2025 Day 8: Nancy Stewart Explores Voice

by Nancy Stewart

“What in the world is voice?”

When I was a fledgling author, this would not have been an unusual question for me. In fact, as I look back at those years now, I realize how much I did not know about many aspects of writing. I have also learned that it usually takes a lot of writing to become proficient. After much practice and (I’ll admit it) several books for children, I began to realize how crucial voice is for an author to have any hope of connecting with a reader.

Here are some things I have learned about voice, how one can “capture” it and then use it to your and your reader’s advantage. After all, voice says so much. However, sometimes it doesn’t have to say much at all. The expression can be transferred through gazes, sighs, etc. as long as voice is evident to support expression.

To begin finding and using one’s voice, is to write at least your initial attempt in first person. This is the closest an author can get to the inner thoughts, feelings, hopes and dreams, especially to the all-important protagonist.

Stay close to the emotions of your cast of characters. I find if I can almost be “at one” with them, voice comes more easily. If there is anything similar about them to you (and let’s face it; there always is a chard of memory from our own past), mine it. Go deep into your past. Find the feelings—comfortable or not. It is amazing how much better and authentic your book will be!

If these tips seem heavy on knowing your protagonist/s emotions, then you would be right. One can never know too much about their characters. Knowing their hearts, desires, fears, goals and needs will help the author know what to say or do or act in an accurate manner. AND it will help your reader understand why the characters act the way they do.

When I began writing my Middle Grade novel, Me and the Missouri Moon, two years ago, I knew that I was a different author. That knowledge took me nearly eight years to attain. I knew from the outset that the protagonist, Scarlet, was going to triumph through the troubles that beset her, and how her best friend, Cricket, her mama, and several others, would help her save the day. Voice helped save the day. And the practice of listening to one’s characters and speaking for them in their voices is what makes reality happen in a book of fiction.

An example of voice used in Me and the Missouri Moon:

I propped my elbows on the chilly windowsill and rested my head on my hands. Tears plopped down on it, and I wiped them off the wood with my PJ top. Between Cricket, and Malcom, and Daddy, these past three months had been the best and the worst of my life.

The moon was all fuzzy when I looked back up at it through teary eyes. “Remember when I asked you to guide me like the North Star? Well, I needed your help then, but tonight I need it super bad. Problem is, I wasn’t constant and true to my best friend. Now, she won’t be my friend anymore, ‘cause I was mean to her without any real reason. But I believe in your magic, like Grandma says. So, if you could help me, I’d surely appreciate it. That’s all. Good Night.”

I climbed into bed, wiped the last tears away, and snuggled into my comforter. But as much as I loved that old moon, I knew in my heart it couldn’t help me. I was the only one who could.

This book is a starred Kirkus Star winner, 2024.

A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, Nancy Stewart taught grade school and was a university professor, specializing in Children’s and Young Adult Literature. She was fortunate to have lived in London with her family for a number of years and, while there, traveled the world, particularly Africa. Nancy’s debut Young Adult novel, Beulah Land, was a finalist in the Forward Indies Book of the Year Awards. It was also one of the most anticipated books at Barnes & Nobel in 2017. Her new Middle Grade novel, Me and the Missouri Moon, won a Starred Kirkus Award in October 2024, a star from The Children’s Book Review, and a gold medal from Literary Titan. Visit her at NancyStewartWrites.com and follow her on Instagram @rosenthalstewart.