In this day and age of streaming TV/movies and social media video, so many aspiring novelists think about their novels solely in terms of dialogue and gestures. Characters talk, maybe there’s some action, they sigh and look at things, they talk some more, and that, in their minds, comprises a novel. They aren’t thinking enough about their narrative voice.

A strong narrative voice that carries the heft of the storytelling has become a bit of a misunderstood and lost art. So much so that when I refer to a missing narrative voice when I’m editing novels, sometimes authors don’t even know what I’m talking about.

A narrative voice is more than just the POV and a vessel for describing action. In this post I’m going to cover: