Getting back on track here with the literary life; spring birdsong and sunny evenings albeit cold can overcome the deepest down of soul.
Voice is a bit of a question; voices often come from characters themselves if that is their way, if they are self-created. So if story is in first person pov, then author–writing in this manner, just what he is told–has a different job to do. He has to get the tone, the emotion, the thoughts and values of the character put down in words that display those traits and ideals. No, he can’t write down everything the character says because here the author must be editor instead. Then too, he must provide the fill-in narrative, how the character moves and acts and reacts to what is going on. He is a mouthpiece, only drawing upon his own skill to relay a story. He must do his character proud.
I love the way that O’Brien lets his characters take over in At Swim-Two-Birds. There is so much to learn here that it is almost overwhelming to read it in all the capacities a reader can employ. For besides the many voices among the pages of the novel, are all the voices in between–those of the reader.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology