Dispatch From The Quest: Troy Klith

Over the course of the 24 weeks I am working with the writers in The Quest, each will write a weekly dispatch to share with the GITS community. There are several reasons for doing this, the main one educational: Hopefully you will learn something of value for your own understanding of the craft from the experiences of the Questers. I should also add they are a great group of people, so I expect you will enjoy getting to know them.

Today: Troy talks about a revelation he experienced in last week’s lectures on Narrative Voice:

Good advice usually sounds so simple, almost obvious. You find yourself saying, “Well, of course. I knew that… Wait. Did I?” This has been my experience with some of The Quest lectures: much of it makes so much sense to me, my initial reaction is “Ah, yes! Right. Yup.” and I immediately tell myself “I knew that,” but then I quickly realize that I actually didn’t know that, I just feel like I should have. Or, more accurately, I kind of knew the concept, but it was some extra, subtle piece of advice that really crystalized things.

This was especially true this week as we learned what constitutes a strong narrative voice. Anyone who’s studied the writing craft has heard a lot about the importance of a unique “voice.” Pretty much everything I’ve ever read on the subject describes voice as the author’s personal style. I think of writers like David Sedaris. You read one sentence and know it’s him.

But, while I appreciate the importance of a strong narrative voice, I’ve basically dismissed the idea as something that doesn’t pertain to me. I mean how do I go about including my unique, personal “voice” in something like a horror script? Seems silly. Well, turns out it is.

Yes, it’s inevitable for a writer to insert their own writing style into a script, but what I learned this week is the writer’s effort should focus on developing a voice that reflects the story, not the writer. As our Quest lecture put it:

Your style should be an active reflection of your story’s genre.

A strong narrative voice has little to do with me as the writer, it is relevant only to the story. Duh, right? I know. But this was a revelation for me. Simple, sure. Obvious, perhaps. But news none the less.

Now, of course, there are many writers who have a distinct voice for comedy, and that’s the genre they write and their stuff works primarily because of their unique style. I get that. But that just means the writer is marrying their natural voice to their chosen genre. If they used their natural voice for an action script, the result might not be so great. Boys who spend their weekends making banana nut muffins do not, as a rule, excel in the art of hand-to-hand combat. (In case you detected a shift in voice, that aphorism is not mine, it’s David Sedaris’.)

So, if there are any aspiring writers out there who, like me, fretted over “finding your voice,” fear not. It doesn’t mean you have to get all warm and fuzzy with your prose. It doesn’t mean you have to let your little, personal light shine through on the pages. It just means you need to develop a style that’s appropriate for your story. Duh.

Sometimes the simplest concepts about the craft of screenwriting are both the most overlooked and the most powerful. Like last week when I presented a basic formula to the Questers:

Narrative Voice = Genre + Style

In other words, the attitude we take in telling the story, as evidenced in scene description, scene transitions, scene construction and so on, must be directly connected to the story’s genre.

If you use a comedy Narrative Voice for a horror story, that could be problematic because your NV is undercutting the horror.

Likewise if you use a drama Narrative Voice for an action story, that could work at cross purposes to your genre.

Seems simple, right? But then why are there so many scripts floating around where the writer has an errant Narrative Voice?

Think of it this way: Narrative Voice is an invisible character in your story. A reader may not see it, but they will experience it in how you approach the style of your script.

As Troy says, “Duh.” But also critical to the success of your script.

Tomorrow: Another Dispatch From The Quest.

About Troy: Born Midwesterner with heart in San Francisco, but nothing beats NYC. Entrepreneur. Writer. Lover of the underdog. Grateful father of 3. @troyklith.

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