Chuck Q & A - July 2004
1. From joechummer:
Does Big Voice apply to third person (although probably in a different way than first person)? Since the third person protagonist doesn't narrate, does the "god narrator" have to take over this duty? And if so, does using a god narrator's Big Voice detract from establishing heart/head authority of the protagonist or lend credence to it?
Chuck Responds:
Yes, you can use Big Voice from a third-person perspective, but it’s (in my fossilized opinion) not going to carry as much weight because the speaker isn’t present as a character. At best, the speaker is the hiding author. It’s certainly not God – as implied by the third-person. Except in maybe the Bible or whatever. If the reader doesn’t know who’s making these Big Voice statements – without even a character saying them – then, they can seem more like hot air. Like proclamations from the author, and your whole job is to hide that author (you). You should make the reader feel as if the story is happening to him… As if the Big Voice statements are being told directly to her, by a great character.
2. From Reedrock:
Using big voice as a framing device at the start of a piece often is in a different style than the rest of the work, like the opening scrolls in the Star Wars movies or David Eggers' preface to A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Would you suggest using a different style such as changing fonts, margins, or using italics to distinguish big-voice framing devices as something that will read differently than the rest of the story? Or should content alone achieve this? Thank you.
Chuck Responds:
Really, I can’t say I’m a big fan of any of those mechanical methods. Because I write to mimic the effect of a story told out loud – a performed monologue – the typeface has little effect. A story read from Courier New sounds the same as a story read from New Times Roman. Instead, I might use more line breaks or sentence fragments or single-sentence paragraphs to control the reader’s speed. And I’ll use clauses that the reader will not typically sub vocalize – like ‘he said/she said-type,’ bland attribution – because that creates an empty beat of time. A silent pause in the reader’s mind before the reader lands, harder, on the passage that follows. Working in radio – NPR, during college – I was trained to read my copy out loud, and to write it so the newscaster would read it the way I intended. So, before you change your margins or typeface, look at changing your perspective (going first to third-person, present to past-tense) or style (going from calm Recording Angel to poetic Big Voice). But, again, that’s just me. Remember, some day you’ll be in the front of some bookstore, reading to a crowd, and all you’ll have is your voice – fancy typography can’t save you, then.
3. From Ksik10:
Dear Mr. Palahniuk,
First off, thanks for taking the time from writing more awesome stories to attempt to impart some of your infinite wisdom onto some of us lesser mortals.
If you have ever read "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck, you know that every other chapter is a long, poetic, Big Voice passage that gives all the background to the story. Furthermore, they are some of the most interesting and well-written parts of the book, even though some of them seem to last forever. Since Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize (which, I suppose, automatically means he’s awesome), do you think that it’s reasonable to use Big Voice that extensively, as long as it supports and extends the ideas of a novel that well?
Chuck Responds:
Excellent, excellent example. Those Big Voice sections of “Grapes” are my favorite parts. They imply the passage of time. And they create the world around the characters so the author doesn’t have to slow his action by adding descriptions of the plants, land, sky. My only complaint is how those Big Voice chapters disappear later in the novel and the through-line narrative about the Joads takes over. That’s where I tend to lose interest a little. Yes, the Big Voice passages push a political message – but it’s unfortunate that no character – until Tom and Casey, much later – get to make those statements. Still, the poetic language in those passages could never come out of their mouths. So, in response to your question… I wish Steinbeck had used MORE of those passages, later in the book, to flesh-out the California landscape the way he did the Midwest.
Also, note how Steinbeck uses the language and cadence of the King James Bible to write those “God” voice passages. That’s a nice way to “borrow” the authority he needs to go “Big Voice” and be convincing. But only in a world where readers know their Bible…
4. From Xerochild420:
Hi Chuck,
I appreciate everything you have done, you've inspired me as a reader and a writer, on to the question: Can the big voice operate opposite the little voice? In other words, can the big voice relate to the reader a grim dark reality while the little voice happily concedes to everyone's stupid little issues? Is that as tacky idea? Or does it work?
Chuck Responds:
That sounds like a great idea. A few years ago, I coached a friend with his manuscript, and suggested he add Big Voice comments that could be inserted to question and undermine the existing story. The idea was to add the comments of a fictitious editor who’d read the story and sensed the “false or unreliable” aspects of it. This fake editor – acting like the “reporters” in Citizen Kane – would ask the questions the reader might also be asking, about inconsistent facts, etc. Preceding each comment with something as simple as “Editor’s Note:” would explain it and give the Big Voice a God-like authority. So, yes, you should find some smart way to do this. In “Survivor,” I do it by having the Fertility character be omniscient – from her God-like viewpoint, she can deny the drama that otherwise panics the narrator. Plus, it’s a fun way to “break” the melodrama of a scene and take it to a new level.
5. From MagElvs:
What do you think of the Catcher in the Rye? You say how you hate long big voice rants in your essay, and that book is full of things them.
Chuck Responds:
Sorry, I haven’t read “Catcher” since junior high school – and that world of private schools and city hotels made no sense to me. There was no way “into” the book for a trailer house kid in Burbank, Washington. So – not one of my favorites.
6. From Tirgesfu:
I am attempting to build upon each essay. I will say I am finding it very difficult to use a big voice without thought verbs. As I watch movies and look for examples I have found lots of the big voice introductions use thoughts and feelings. Can you direct me to an example of the big voice introduction that does not use thought verbs? Am I making the connection to big voice and thought verbs correctly?
Chuck Responds:
Check out “Grapes of Wrath” for the good examples cited above. Also, consider how Christ taught, telling Big Voice parables – thinner stories, like Aesops fables, and like the faceless reporters in Citizen Kane – that demonstrate a larger message. And, where people act out the message. Even in Big Voice, you can use action and physical sensation. Or, you can sandwich your Big Voice proclamations between bits of physical action to keep the voice grounded, and keep the reader in the scene. Especially in Big Voice, you don’t want to use “thought” verbs because their inherent weakness will undermine the authority of your big statement.
7. From Smitty:
How do you manage verb tense jumping back and forth between big and little voice? Does it matter?
Thank you for the workshop.
Chuck Responds:
When mixing Big and Little voices, my tendency is to use past-tense for the little and present tense for the big. With Big Voice, your character is making observations that transcend place and time. “This is the nature of human beings…” Big shit, like that. So that Big Voice isn’t tied to the Little Voice scene. Alternating verb tense will help keep those voices separate. Plus, it creates more contrast between the passages on the page. Little voice physical business and set dressing VS. Big Voice choruses and transitional devices. Again, remember: the Big Voice isn’t really God Speaking – it’s the hidden writer implying time’s passage, character worldview, changing the subject, or some other secret plot purpose.
8. From JohnnySega:
Your essays have been extremely helpful for me, likely more so than my time in University workshops. My question is off the current topic, but a big one for me right now. How do you find the energy/creativity to write when tragedy strikes your life? My mom died of cancer yesterday and I'm wondering how I can find the strength to keep writing. Any advice?
Chuck Responds:
Here are two ideas to consider: First, you can use writing as a skill and a craft to focus your attention on while time separates you, farther and farther, from this sad, painful event. You’ll still be processing her death – because all a writer can ever do is describe his or her own face. Your life is everything – but masked – that you write. Any self expression will be helping you, plus exhausting your pain and grief. Remember: When a regular person takes aspirin for a headache, a writer takes notes. Be aware and working. Your craft is to archive and document this, even by creating a metaphor around it and “fictionalizing” it. Seriously, it might be years before you recognize your personal issue in the work you create at this time.
Second, maybe even more importantly – any death is a gift. Here’s a reminder that you’ll die, also. You will die. Your body will rot. Other people will get your precious stuff… So, why not spend your life practicing the passion you want to practice? Writing. Music. Painting. Acting. Here is a less-than-gentle reminder that your life is not forever. Here is your permission to practice your passion. All my books have happened after the death of a close friend or family member. Sometimes, that’s the only way I can leave the “Little Voice” hustle of the everyday world and sit down long enough to write.
I don’t know you, but please accept my sympathy.
9. From Anele925:
Dear Chuck,
"Palahniuk" is as Ukrainian as "Johnson" is American. Hence my question: Do you have Ukrainian first name also? Do you speak the language? And why you almost never pronounce it right? Do you plan to visit the land of your ancestors at some point of your life?
Chuck Responds:
Hah! Nope, I’ve got no connection to my “roots.” No Easter egg dying. Nothing. My family pronounces the name “Paula- NIK” so that’s how I say it. (imagine telling all my old aunts and uncles: “you’re saying it WRONG, you dumb immigrant…) And, no other first name. In my Mom’s French-Canadian family, the first-born male of each generation is automatically named “Charles.” So, the generations alternate using Charles, Charlie and Chuck. I got named by default.
10. From Nemmex:
I was at the Crest [last week] and heard you speak... I was wondering if you could share those important things that you learned from other writers in the workshops. The one you mentioned last night was about not getting the characters in between the action and the reader. Some of that was really eye opening and I was wondering if you could re-iterate or expand on it.
Thanks,
the gentleman who almost hit his date in the head with the tickets.
Chuck Responds:
I’ll go into this at greater depth, in a later essay, but the idea is to never “filter” your fictional world through your character. Instead of saying: Sheila felt the hot sun.” Just say, “The sun was hot.” Or better yet, “The sun lasered down, sweating, blistering, sunburn-tight and skin-glowing hot…” A statement that will generate a physical reaction within your reader. Even, “The clock struck midnight..” is stronger than “Evan heard the clock strike midnight..” You want your story to be happening directly to your reader. Like a guided meditation. Not “told” to the reader by your character. More, later.
