Voice in Fiction: Style, Dialogue, and Point of View

Author Bharati Mukherjee said that “‘voice’ is our shorthand for the process of decision-making regarding tone, diction, pacing, texture, withholding, etc. in a given work.” Each writer, and each work, has a particular voice—or sometimes a chorus of voices—that reveals point of view and character and helps determine meaning.

Together, we will read and discuss novel selections and short stories from a variety of writers, including Helen Oyeyemi, Grace Paley, and Justin Torres.

You will have the chance to post three selections from your work (up to 5,000 words total) for substantive, supportive feedback from your colleagues and instructor and to develop new approaches to the voice, style, dialogue, and POV in your own fiction.

We will also consider character, plot, and place.

By the end of the course, you will have a deeper sense of how to bring your writer’s voice more vividly, distinctly alive.