Narrative Voice Quotes

The novel is apparently autobiographical and is being publicised as such but Doust has done with his material what so many autobiographical novelists fail to do: he has turned it into a shapely story, with no extraneous material or diversions and with an absolutely consistent and convincing narrative voice.' - Sydney Morning Herald ~ Jon Doust

With the adult ones, I feel I need to get as deep inside the psychology of a character as I can, and that needs to be first-person. In the children's books, I feel I need some distance. I don't want to be the nine-year-old at the center of the story. I need to have some type of narrative voice. ~ John Boyne

I try to widen the horizons of every child I meet, and part of that is promoting diverse forms, be it graphic novels, stories told in a narrative voice, or more translated books, as well as more diverse writers and more diverse characters. ~ Malorie Blackman

Novelty. Security. Novelty wouldn't be a bad title. It had the grandness of abstraction, alerting the reader that large and thoughtful things were to be bodied forth. As yet he had no inkling of any incidents or characters that might occupy his theme; perhaps he never would. He could see though the book itself, he could feel its closed heft and see it opened, white pages comfortably large and shadowed gray by print; dense, numbered, full of meat. He sensed a narrative voice, speaking calmly and precisely, with immense assurance building, building; a voice too far off for him to hear, but speaking. ("Novelty") ~ John Crowley

I do think that the abiding mystery of my origins has definitely had a profound effect upon my writing. There is that thing in the back of my mind where I think I don't really know who I am. And it may make it a little easier to shift around in my narrative voice. ~ Gillian Welch

Novels begin and end with, consist of, and indeed in one sense are nothing but voices. So reading is learning to listen sensitively, and to tune in accurately, to varying frequencies and a developing programme.
From the opening words a narrative voice begins to create
its own characteristic personality and sensibility, whether it belongs to an 'author' or a 'character'. At the same time a reader is being created, persuaded to become the particular kind of reader the book requires. A relationship develops, which becomes the essential basis of the experience. In the modulation of the fictive voice,
finally, through the creation of 'author' and 'reader* and their relationship, there is a definition of the nature and status of the experience, which will always imply a particular idea of ordering the world.
So much is perhaps familiar enough, and a useful rhetoric of Voice' has developed. Yet I notice in my students and myself, when its vocabulary is in play, a tendency to become rather too abstract or technical, and above all too spatial and static. Perhaps we need to remind ourselves what it can be like to listen to close friends,
talking animatedly and seriously in everyday experience, in order to make sure that a vocabulary which often points only to broad strategies does not tempt us to underplay the extraordinary resourcefulness,
variety and fluctuation of the novelist's voice. ~ Ian Gregor

Critics who perceive the first level of Mann's irony recognize that the second voice is giving us reasons to be dubious about various aspects of Aschenbach's life and work. But many of them don't appreciate the second level of irony, the one exemplified in setting this narrative voice alongside the more sympathetic one, and inviting us to choose. ~ Philip Kitcher

It's not my job to make readers know what's a narrative voice and not the private view of the author," and that alone made me glad I had come. ~ Elizabeth Strout

We find in the novella a seamless interweaving of at least two narrative voices, one of which is that of an observer so sympathetic that his language appears to be Aschenbach's own, the other of which is superficially celebratory (except at the moment of moralistic condemnation) but undercuts Aschenbach by means of an ironic detachment. ~ Philip Kitcher

I think about entrance and exits. I think about dialogue. But most of all I think about voice - all character development in theatre is done through voice. And as I wrote my debut novel "The Big Fear", I thought about narrative voice with every line. ~ Andrew Case

Still, small heavenly voices penetrate the heart with their gentle, convincing declarations ... Most often, hope, encouragement, and direction come from a soft, piercing voice. Small voices are heard only by those who are willing to listen. ~ Marvin J. Ashton

Did I catch ye looking at me?" He knelt beside her and covered her with the plaid...
"I couldn't help myself," she mumbled.
He gave a low chuckle and slid in beside her. His naked arm pulled her close so her head rested on his solid chest.
"Good answer." The smile was evident in his silky voice. ~ Madeline Martin

Genuine courtesy is a creation, like pictures, like music. It is a harmonious blending of voice, gesture and movement, words and action, in which generosity of conduct is expressed. It reveals the man himself and has no ulterior purpose. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

Writing of the narrative kind, and perhaps all writing, is motivated deep down, by a fear or and fascination with mortality - by a desire to make the risky trip to the underworld and to bring something or someone back from the dead. ~ Margaret Atwood

I wasn't entirely surprised to find Elodin on Stonebridge. Very little about the Master Namer surprised me these days. He sat on the waist-high stone lip of the bridge, swinging his bare feet over the hundred-foot drop to the river below.
"Hello Kvothe," he said without turning his eyes from the churning water.
"Hello, Master Elodin," I said. "I'm afraid I'm going to be leaving the University for a term or two."
"Are you really afraid?" I noticed a whisper of amusement in his quiet, resonant voice. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Wars of aggression are the most barbarous of all human endeavors and are, more often than not, the instruments of insane tyrants who hear voices. ~ Rodrigue Tremblay

I've auditioned for musicals a lot, but I think my voice didn't really match what they were looking for. I went to school for musical theater for a year and dropped out. Legit musicals are not quite my forte. ~ Cristin Milioti

Quit, give up, you're beaten,
They still shout in my face,
But another voice within me says,
Get up and win the race ~ Dee Groberg

A number of terrible things about falling in love make it not worth the time and the effort. But the worst of these is that we can never truly fall in love with a person, but only what we think that person is - more precisely, we fall in love with an image of a person that we create in our minds based on a few inconsequential traits: hair color; bloodline; timbre of voice; preference in music or literature. We are so quick to make a judgment on first sight, and it is so easy for us to decide that the object of our love is unquestionably perfect. And while people can only be human at best, these same fallible humans are more than capable of imagining each other to be infallible gods.
Any relationship we have with another human being is an ongoing process of error correction, altering this image that we see in our mind's eye whenever we lay love-blinded eyes on our beloved. It changes bit by bit until it matches the beloved herself, who is invariably less than perfect, often unworthy of love, and often incapable of giving love. This is why any extended interpersonal relationship other than the most superficial, be it a friendship, a romance, or a tie between father and daughter, must by necessity involve disappointment and pain. When the woman you worship behaves as a human being eventually will, she does not merely disappoint; she commits sacrilege, as if the God we worship were to somehow damn Himself. ~ Dexter Palmer

I'm very picky, and I'm never 100% happy with the work I do; I hate watching myself and hearing my voice. ~ Samantha Mumba

We can study the whole history of salvation, we can study the whole of Theology, but without the Spirit we cannot understand. It is the Spirit that makes us realize the truth or - in the words of Our Lord - it is the Spirit that makes us know the voice of Jesus. ~ Pope Francis

You know, it's an odd feeling to not know who you are, I started, trying to keep my voice even and not let urgency or anger skew my words. ~ S.G. Holster

Arin glanced up as she approached. One tree shadowed the knoll, a laran tree, leaves broad and glossy. Their shadows dappled Arin's face, made it a patchwork of sun and dark. It was hard to read his expression. She noticed for the first time the way he kept the scarred side of his face out of her line of sight. Or rather, what she noticed for the first time was how common this habit was for him in her presence--and what that meant.
She stepped deliberately around him and sat so that he had to face her fully or shift into an awkward, neck-craned position.
He faced her. His brow lifted, not so much in amusement as in his awareness of being studied and translated.
"Just a habit," he said, knowing what she'd seen.
"You have that habit only with me."
He didn't deny it.
"Your scar doesn't matter to me, Arin."
His expression turned sardonic and interior, as if he were listening to an unheard voice.
She groped for the right words, worried that she'd get this wrong. She remembered mocking him in the music room of the imperial palace (I wonder what you believe could compel me to go to such epic lengths for your sake. Is it your charm? Your breeding? Not your looks, surely.).
"It matters because it hurts you," she said. "It doesn't change how I see you. You're beautiful. You always have been to me." Even when she hadn't realized it, even in the market nearly a year ago. Then later, when she understood his beauty. Again, when she saw his face ~ Marie Rutkoski

How can you fight the world with a quiver in your voice, Beatriss of the Flatlands? ~ Melina Marchetta

I can do everything with my language but not with my body. What I hide by my language, my body utters. I can deliberately mold my message, not my voice. By my voice, whatever it says, the other will recognize "that something is wrong with me". I am a liar (by preterition), not an actor. My body is a stubborn child, my language is a very civilized adult ... ~ Roland Barthes

You need to take the traumas and make them part of who you've come to be, and you need to fold the worst events of your life into a narrative of triumph, evincing a better self in response to things that hurt. ~ Andrew Solomon

Between the experience of living a normal life at this moment on the planet and the public narratives being offered to give a sense to that life, the empty space, the gap, is enormous. ~ John Berger

It's funny: one starts off thinking one is shrinkingly sensitive & intelligent & always one down & all the rest of it: then at thirty one finds one is a great clumping brute, incapable of appreciating anything finer than a kiss or a kick, roaring our one's hypocrisies at the top of one's voice, thick skinned as a rhino. At least I do. ~ Philip Larkin

Under the guise of having every voice heard, you create mob rule, a filterless society where secrets are crimes. ~ Dave Eggers

The central theme of Anna Karenina," he said, "is that a rural life of moral simplicity, despite its monotony, is the preferable personal narrative to a daring life of impulsive passion, which only leads to tragedy."
"That is a very long theme," the scout said.
"It's a very long book," Klaus replied.
[ ... ]
"Or maybe a daring life of impulsive passion leads to something else," the scout said, and in some cases this mysterious person was right. A daring life of impulsive passion is an expression which refers to people who follow what is in their hearts, and like people who prefer to follow their head, or follow a mysterious man in a dark blue raincoat, people who lead a daring life of impulsive passion end up doing all sorts of things. ~ Lemony Snicket

One of Solstad's regular "connecting" statements in his narrative is: "Vi skal komme tilbakke til . . . " - "We shall come to-back to . . . ~ John Freeman

Resting beside her, he seemed to Ildiko a living statue, carved from dark granite into a form of supple elegance and power. He was beautiful, and the tremor change in her perception of him robbed her lungs of air.
He opened both eyes suddenly, making her jump. Two shimmering gold coins stared at her unblinking. "Good evening, wife," he said in a voice raspy with the remnants of sleep. A closed-lip smile curved his mouth upward and deepened the tiny lines that fanned from the corners of his eyes. "You're staring. Do I have a fly on my nose?"
Fighting down a blush at being caught gawking at her own husband, Ildiko lightly tapped the tip of his nose with one finger. "I was trying to find a way to kill it without punching you in the face. Lucky for you, it flew away. ~ Grace Draven

It is not the how of painting but the why. To imitate a style would be a little like teaching a tone of voice or a personality. ~ Ben Shahn

Mission of mercy, he said, straightening up, his voice so cold, he could have owned the patent. ~ Tara Janzen

Probably to me the greatest singer, female voice, is Billie Holiday. And one of the most moving for me, I don't know why - maybe it's nostalgia, maybe because my life is one of constant partying, whatever. ~ Wole Soyinka

A modern-day Dickens with a popular voice and a genius for storytelling in any genre, Stephen King has written many wonderful books. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafon

As an actor I kind of do. I started out doing voice overs in the mid 80s when I was in grad school. ~ Thomas Haden Church

No, no, it's not me, it's them - that old time that I've tried to have live in me. These were just men, unimportant evidently or they wouldn't have been 'unknown'; but they died for the most beautiful thing in the world - the dead South. You see," she continued, her voice still husky, her eyes glistening with tears, "people have these dreams they fasten onto things, and I've always grown up with that dream. It was so easy because it was all dead and there weren't any disillusions comin' to me. I've tried in a way to live up to those past standards of noblesse oblige - there's just the last remnants of it, you know, like the roses of an old garden dying all round us - streaks of strange courtliness and chivalry in some of these boys an' stories I used to hear from a Confederate soldier who lived next door, and a few old darkies. Oh, Harry, there was something, there was something! I couldn't ever make you understand but it was there. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald

Rebellion is not going to go away ... What has been unleashed, I think, can't be stopped ... The importance of continuing acts of resistance is that it keeps this narrative alive ... We speak a fundamental truth about this system that terrifies them. ~ Chris Hedges

I actually went on lectures at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford and all the business schools eight years ago, explaining what the implications were and how the platforms could be powerful in creating the narrative of your brand and mobilizing your life so that you become humanized as well. I understood that and thought that was really empowering, not only to artists, but to brands as well and in general. ~ MC Hammer

When you're following your inner voice, doors tend to eventually open for you, even if they mostly slam at first. ~ Kelly Cutrone

The point is, I can't tell you how to succeed. But I can tell you how not to: Give in to the shame of being rejected and put your manuscript - or painting, song, voice, dance moves, [insert passion here] - in the coffin that is your bedside drawer and close it for good. I guarantee you that it won't take you anywhere. Or you could do what this writer did: Give in to your obsession instead. ~ Kathryn Stockett

I got swirling eyes and the capacity to shatter windows with my bare voice. Tod got teleportation and invisibility. The supernatural world is so far from fair. ~ Rachel Vincent

THE NEXT MORNING, MUTTER stood at the front of his cage as six of the Almightys' Guards drug the body of the thing he'd called the Voice out of the room. It was oblong with no particular shape, just a blob. Two tiny arms stuck out from each side and four tentacles protruded from what was probably its head. A wet trail on the floor left by the Voice's body ran from the cell out the door. There was no way that thing had ever been a Guard. ~ L.S. O'Dea

Our party has always been the voice of the powerless and the voiceless. ~ Robert Casey

A determined man, by his very attitude and the tone of his voice, puts a stop to defeat, and begins to conquer. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Jacque snorted. "Lucy, esplain this mess." she used her best Ricky Ricardo voice. ~ Quinn Loftis

I like the idea of a big caesura between the narratives, a space which readers can fill in with their own speculative history. ~ Jonathan Coe

'Landfill' by Daughter has calming, rich tones that are only improved upon by the gorgeous voice of Daughter. ~ Ben Lovett

I spoke in a soft, soothing voice, a voice wearing a cardigan. ~ Gillian Flynn

God, I hate my voice! Everyone thinks I'm a female, probably ... I am actually a male! ~ Ray Toro

I see her," a man's voice whispered. A chill spread through me. Shane played it again. Never had three little words terrified me so much. I see her. ~ Mara Purnhagen

I'm obsessed with voices in film. I have this memory of how people say words, even on the most intensely stupid reality TV show. ~ Jenny Hval

I don't mess around with clients." He makes the sign of the cross. "So for as long as you are one I will be a complete professional. It's probably for the best that we're discussing it, so you don't mistake me not trying to get in your pants as me not wanting to get in your pants." His eyes slide downward, and his voice dips to a whisper. "I definitely want in. ~ Emma Chase

Arch your back, Alisa – show me that gorgeous ass. Show me what belongs to me."
Your voice is enthralling; an intoxicating sound of pleasure and
authority. I obey willingly, closing my eyes as I do so. I want you to use
me. I need you to take what belongs to you. I spread my legs even further
apart, using the wall to keep me in place and push my glistening pussy out
towards you. ~ Felicity Brandon

As they passed through the crowd, people blinked at them until finally Lily Chen, looking annoyed, stood up and said, in a loud, bored voice, "I cannot believe my own eyes. Isn't that Jace Herondale and Clary Fairchild, back from THE DEAD? ~ Cassandra Clare