18th
Setting the tone -- are you Han Solo or Obi Wan?
All books have a ‘feel’ to them — a general impression that you get when you read them. When writing, make sure you have an idea of the tone/feel you want to create.
Find a tone appropriate for:
- Reader: what sort of person is reading this book? What kind of tone will they enjoy?
- Topic: does the topic lend itself to a particular pace, level of formality, or level of seriousness
- You: how do you like to relate to people? What tone will give an authentic sense of your own personality?
- ‘The book’: is the book title or position intended to have a specific feel? Is it competing with other books on the basis of style? Do you want your book to ‘stand out’ in some way?
Think:
- Fast or steady – is this ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ or safe and steady? Many readers love both, some prefer one or the other. Everybody would prefer the book to have SOME consistent sense of pace. Emotional result: the reader will feel either excited (this is fun!) or reassured (this isn’t as hard as I thought!).
- Funny or serious – do you want the reader to find the book light hearted and irreverent, or sensible and professional. If you want to be funny, can you sustain it for 300 pages? Can you use humour in a way that readers will like and will encourage learning rather than distracting them? It’s dangerous to aim for humour – the question is really, shall I PERMIT myself to drop in humour when I see the opportunity?
- Casual or formal – do you want a friendly or professional relationship with your reader?
- Excited or dispassionate – do you love your topic for its own sake? Do you look forward to playing around with the tool to see what it can do? Or do you see it as practically useful and worthwhile, but hardly loveable?
In Star Wars, Luke has two main mentors — Han Solo and Obi Wan. He learns from both, but in different ways. If they were writing your book, how would their styles differ?
Han Solo – he talks fast – being on his ship is fun, but also feels dangerous.
Obi Wan – he talks slowly – you feel that he will always look after you. You feel safe but you might get bored sometimes.
Han Solo – he is funny – he smirks a lot. He is sarcastic and jokey. But he doesn’t say things only to be funny – he says what he has to say, but in a funny way.
Obi Wan – he is serious – he occasionally uses wit (“who’s the bigger fool…”) but it’s more to make a clever point than the make people laugh or express humour.
Han Solo is casual – you immediately feel like you’re either his friend or his enemy. He talks how he feels. Instead of “yes” he would say “yeah” or “sure”.
Obi Wan is formal – he treats everybody – friend or foe – with politeness and diplomacy. Instead of “yes” he would say “indeed” or “correct”.
Han Solo is excited – he loves flying fast, relishes chases, and enjoys fire fights. He doesn’t have a strong goal – he enjoys a never-ending adventure. He often does things because they are fun to do.
Obi Wan is dispassionate – he is focused on achieving the goal, and acts only in a way that will accomplish that goal.