Those Voices In Your Head

I've been going through a voice funk lately, and by that I mean I've been trying to answer to the different styles pulling me in multiple directions. It's been overwhelming trying to sort out blog voice from work voice from Ella voice. I've found Ella speaking in a journalistic style, and my food column diving into some confused, eighteen-year-old girl  introspection. How do I compartmentalize those voices in my head? Well, when I figure it out, I'll let you know. In the meantime...

I'm really only slightly joking here. I haven't figured it out completely, but I do think it helps to switch up writing mediums, and of course to get in the right zone prior to writing. I've decided to assign particular mediums to whatever it is that I'm writing, so my laptop, tablet, and various journals serve different purposes. Since I did that, getting in the right mood has gotten so much easier.

I've been writing in the Anamnesis voice for about five years, so I have no idea what sort of writer I'll be once this trilogy is complete. As I'm sensing an actual completion date in 2016, I've been wondering about who I am as a writer more and more lately. What will happen when I start something new, with a fresh POV? My books are in first person, from Ella's perspective, which I originally thought would make writing easier. As it turns out, it's immensely difficult, and I won't be writing first person for awhile after this! There are pros, but the cons have started outnumbering them. While I'm writing these books, I can't know anything that she doesn't know, and (duh) everything that happens is from her perspective. As the plot gets more complex, it's gotten harder for me to figure out how she can learn things in an interesting way, or how the reader can suspect something without Ella suspecting it. I guess that's why they say writing isn't easy, right?  On top of this complicated dynamic, writing as Ella actually started affecting my mood, which hadn't really happened before. She's depressed for half of the third book (spoiler?), and I was finding myself down and morose. It was only once Ella started perking up that I noticed that I was starting to cheer up, and I had a "Wait a minute!" moment and was glad to be over that unhappy hump.

Have I digressed? Probably. I think I can reel it back in. This post is about voices, right? So, Ella's voice has affected me both as a writer and as a person. I'll probably finish these books and realize that I hate oranges and love spiders.

​Have you ever struggled to separate your writing voices? If so, do tell me how you overcame the hurdle.