Dear Lori

I was reading a freebie the other day and I had to stop because my eyes were glazing over. Now, it might be I just need new glasses but that wasn't the whole reason. I was bored out of my skull.

You might say, well what do you expect with a freebie? You might, but I hope you won't. I've found some gems amongst them, not to mention sometimes more well known authors will put up one to celebrate a new book or announce republication of their backlist. Hell, I got Outlander for free!! You can't beat that with a stick. :-) I guess I really need to make more use of the sample function ...

Anyway, going by the blurb, this book ought to have been a good read. For me, it wasn't. Why not? Because I didn't like the author's voice.

What is authorial voice? Is it the same from book to book? Would you recognize a particular voice if one book was third person and another first? Would you know I wrote both Lady Bea (third) and TL (first)? What constitutes an author's voice?

Is it just good or bad writing? If you don't like an author's voice, is it because s/he over describes or uses convoluted sentences or goes on and on and on with inner thoughts to the point of ad nauseum? Perhaps the sentences are awkward or s/he belabors the obvious.

Is it that the writing's good but you just don't like one or more of the main characters? Maybe you don't like their sense of humor. Maybe they don't have one, lol. Maybe you wonder what on earth anyone would see in the hero. On the other hand, there's authors that can make the unlikeable very likeable indeed.

I don't know what it is, frankly. I suspect the book I couldn't finish suffered from lack of depth and labored dialogue. At times the dialogue seemed to be nothing but an infodump. Plus, at the point I stopped reading, I didn't like either the hero or the heroine. She might have pulled me around though; perhaps I should soldier on.

In the meantime - what is voice?

Hope to hear from you soon, darlin'.

Carolyn