Ice and a Slice was the novel where I found my author voice. I’d never really known what that meant until I wrote this book. This was partly because for so many years I wrote short stories for magazines which meant I was writing to a house style. I’d learned to adapt my style to fit not just one but dozens of different magazines.
But when I started writing about Sarah Jane (SJ to her friends) I found that it was effortless. I fell in love with her right from the start. And this, I’ve discovered, is one of the criteria – maybe even the main one – for writing in your own voice. The writing is effortless.
It was almost as if I channelled this book. I sat at my desk and the words poured out. It’s a wonderful feeling. \
Writing Ice and a Slice – now titled One in a Million was a total joy, despite the difficult and very personal subject matter. The disease of alcoholism is a subject very close to my heart.
It was also a joy to go back to the novel, which needed some updates and plot tweaks some twenty years after it was first written. I found I still loved SJ and being in her head. She still made me laugh and she still made me cry.
Does it show when an author has found their writing voice? Is the book as much of a joy to read as it is for the author to write it? I don’t know the answer to that question, but I’d love to know what you think?