LOL, I do not always follow my own advice either, but I usually end up regretting it in the end. We all know what we should do. Doesn’t mean we’re going to do it.

Glad you enjoyed the post. Yes, description doing double-duty is a great trick. That way the description moves the story forward rather than cluttering it up.

Thank you!

I would say: your narrator’s voice is the book’s voice. Your voice as the author is necessarily woven into that because you created that narrator. But you have to be careful that you the author respect the narrator’s way of viewing the world (which may or may not be the same as your way of viewing it). Does that make sense?

It’s such an interesting question. I was going to say that your voice will always be part of everything you write, but then I wondered, is that true? What if you decide you’re going to adopt a Dickensian style? You won’t sound like yourself anymore. You’ll sound like Dickens. I would argue that only Dickens should sound like Dickens, but maybe people will disagree with that.

You’re making me realize I have a lot more to say on this topic!

Thank you! Good to hear!

Oh yes, me too. It’s hard to avoid and sometimes hard to spot yourself.

Glad the post was helpful!

Thank you! “Fictional dream” is John Gardner’s way of describing the world of the novel, and I find it so helpful. The one thing you don’t want to do is startle your reader awake with ineffective writing.

Thank you, Mindy! There’s so much that can be done with deep POV when you really settle into your character and see things through their eyes. It’s one of my favourite things about writing deep POV.