WCIT: Voice in The 5th Wave

Welcome to What Can I Take (WCIT) Thursdays, a feature dedicated to looking at our favorite books for tips we writers can take to improve our own writing (or at least get some hints to address those trouble spots). 

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We begin with Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave, of which, as I mentioned in my review of the book on Monday, my favorite part was the writing. Absolutely gorgeous, poetic, and a true delight to read. But, in addition to that, there were two other things about Yancey's writing that really impressed me (and I thought made this book stick out from so many):

1) The way Yancey wove certain phrases and ideas throughout the book, across the multiple perspectives he uses, sometimes using the exact same phrases in a new circumstance to give them a completely different meaning. This repetition also allows him to tie things up rather nicely, while still leaving loose ends for the later books to pick up. Not related to voice, but worth mentioning.

2) Yancey's choice to tell the story through four different voices: Cassie, Zombie, Silencer, and Nugget. This choice isn't in and of itself unusual, but I thought the way he carried it out was (and this is the first things I think we can take from T5W to apply to our own writing). Instead of cycling through the perspectives in a particular order, he picks up a perspective when it is useful for his purposes and drops it when it has fulfilled that purpose. I took a writing class this past semester, and my teacher was always talking about how when we write, we often feel the need to fill the reader in on everything—it's hard to know how much background they need to know for your point to be effectively conveyed, after all. The consequence of that is the reader getting bogged down with unnecessary details. So, my teacher was always encouraging us not to be afraid of just dropping in the information we wanted the reader to know with little to no preamble (adjusting as necessary, of course). Using a phrase or a literary technique when it's useful, and letting it drop when that use has been expended.

Yancey does this beautifully, and he uses it to his advantage to keep tension running high throughout the story. You learn in one section that the army is evil and in the next section, you're thinking, well, maybe not? It's a wonderful tactic that I think is heavily responsible for the book's ability to pull you right into the story so you feel like you're right there next to Cassie as she sleeps in her tent or Zombie as he trains, and you are feeling the same disorientation that the people in this world are experiencing.Who really is the bad guy? This technique really helps this story world come alive for me.

The second thing that I think we can take away from T5W is the distinctiveness of each individual voice. Cassie's voice is very different from Zombie's voice, which is very different from Silencer's voice, which is different than Nugget's voice. When we would switch sections, even before Yancey told us whose head we were in, I could tell. I really respect that, because distinct voices is something I really struggle with in my own writing. What I noticed is you can kind of see how he distinguishes these voices by looking at the choices he makes when constructing his sentences. Cassie's voice is skeptical and sarcastic, but you still feel her teenage girl essence through her use of everyday, teenage vernacular such as creeper, heebie-jeebies, and longer sentences and figurative language. Zombie's, on the other hand, tends to feature shorter, more straightforward sentences, that get to the point. There are fewer memories present in his section, and he speaks like a (non-teenage) young adult, though occasionally, you'll catch flashes of the teenage boy he is. Nugget's is clinical, simple, straight-to-the-point, and Silencer's, matter-of-fact, but tinged with a bit of wonder. Having read the book, I think all of these are perfectly written to express the essence of these characters.

So, how do we copy Yancey? Take a page from his book. Look at the way Cassie relates her experiences versus the way Zombie relates his. Everything from the way you construct a sentence (Is the sentence written in passive or active voice? Is it sarcastically phrased or take-me-at-face-value phrased?) to the words you choose to construct that sentence ("hightailed it" vs. "ran away," "He's creeping me out!" vs. "He was making me nervous.") all reflect your character's personality, circumstances, and experiences. The teacher I mentioned before had us start the class by only writing with simple sentences. It forced us to stop and think about what we actually wanted to say as opposed to thinking about how we wanted to say it, which then made us aware of how we were saying things as he slowly started letting us open up our assignments again to more natural, figurative, complex sentences.

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So what can I take?

• Only use what you need, when you need it. Don't be afraid to trust the reader.
• Don't forget the power of the sentence and the things we use to construct them (punctuation included!).
• Read with a critical eye! If you find a phrase that really strikes you, ask yourself why? You can learn a lot about strong and effective writing when you do that.

Try it out!
Take three characters. Write a short piece in which each one of them recounts the exact same incident from his or her own perspective. Take care to think about how each character might notice certain things over others, the type of language he or she likely to use, and the way he or she tends to express him or herself. (Does she use slang or proper language? Does he tend to ramble or are his observations short and to the point?)

(Writing prompt made by me. Please give due credit if republished.)

Any questions? Comments? Extra tips to add about voice? Share them in the comments! And I'd love to see what you write, so please share it either in the comments or shoot me an email. I might share what I write with you guys too!

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Book Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Title: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Genre: Sci-Fi
Publication Date: May 7, 2013

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother--or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

So, there's this (now not-so-)new book called The 5th Wave. I don't know if you guys have heard of it, but it's only one of the biggest releases of the season, right? Which means most of you have probably already read it and formed your opinions, but I love discussing books, so bear with me as I tell you my opinion, and then perhaps we can compare notes.

I picked up The 5th Wave when it came out after reading about it at my internship back in February. How could I not with a book flap summary like that? It sounded beyond awesome! I actually finished reading this book a while ago, but it's taken me some time to formulate my opinion on it and edit down what was quite a long post. My final verdict on the book? I have mixed feelings. Allow me to elucidate.

1. The Characters: 5/5
As anyone who knows me will tell you, characters are big deal to me. I spend my days evaluating scripts for movies and TV shows and short stories for publication, and guaranteed one of the first things I'll mention in the comments is the characters. I'm sure my boss is tired of reading lines like "The characters really come alive off the page. I can visualize them in my head as I read!" from me, but truth be told, if the characters aren't interesting, I check out in about five minutes.

The characters were T5W's saving grace for me; they got me through to the end. (That sounds worse than it is.) Though the writing was beautiful (see #4) and the premise genuinely interesting, the book starts off slow (see #5), and much as I wanted to read it, it was the characters that made that possible. Cassie is great,  just about everything I'd want in a heroine—she's strong, brave, and resourceful. Much as she'd like to, she can't just lie down and take it. She's a fighter, and on top of that, she's pretty funny. I loved her voice and the wit that shows through when she was talking to others, and that was really what kept me hanging in there when the going got tough.

The two male leads are equally enchanting, though for different reasons. I really liked Ben as the super soldier. I thought Yancey did a great job writing his character. He kind of reminded me of Captain America, which during an alien invasion, isn't a Captain America exactly what America needs? Food for thought. Evan was intriguing despite the twist in his storyline being somewhat obvious from his introduction (on the book flap). I can't really discuss my love for Evan without spoilers, but he is just…an onion? There are just so many questions I'd like to ask him or Yancey, because he's fascinating. I give Yancey an A+ on these guys.

2. The Relationship: 3/5
I was actually really disappointed on the relationship front. Having not read that many male YA authors, but knowing that, in general, there is often a difference in the way males write versus females (not that there can't be crossover, of course), I was really eager to see something new on the relationship front. Not only was it not new, but it was a textbook case of Insta-Love, which really made me want to put the book down, especially because it basically ruined Cassie's character in that section of the book. I mean, I get it. It's the end of the world (to her), she hasn't seen anyone, much less a living, breathing, non-bleeding guy, for a while, but that's precisely why the relationship development doesn't make any sense! What happened to distrustful Cassie? The inciting incident of the book tells and shows us what she would do to any person she met on the street, but she doesn't do it to him because he's pretty and smells like chocolate? Come on.

I gave it a 3, though, because while I don't like Cassie's feelings for him, his feelings for her were great. It was almost like an obsessive love, which, and this will sounds strange, I've been thinking about and writing a lot lately. This one is a different kind of obsessive love than you usually see: he's not violent about it, and in fact, she's probably not even aware of it, but it's there, just quietly bubbling under the surface, and I loved it.

That said, I did not love Cassie turning back into the high school girl she was before the aliens launched their attack when she runs into her high school crush again. That was annoying. I suppose it makes sense because you react with what you know in a situation that just seems completely out of hand, but it's almost like she gets stuck there, which doesn't make sense, because after the first two minutes, she should remember that everything is different now. There is no more space or time to be that girl she was back in high school. Fingers crossed that a love triangle doesn't develop.

3. The Ambiance: 4/5
So I use this fancy word here as a substitute for setting; basically, the world that Yancey brings us into. I just want to say three words here: AH-MAZE-ZING. I think one of the hardest things to do as a writer is making not only your characters come to life on the page, but also the world they live in. It's something I struggle with a lot, but Yancey does it seemingly effortlessly. I felt the disorientation that Cassie, her family, and Ben and his teammates feel trying to figure out who they're supposed to be fighting. While my first prediction actually turned out to be right, I won't sit here and pretend that I didn't second, third, and fourth guess myself, flip sides, and invent new conjectures about what was going on. It was confusing and terrifying. I often felt like I was pounding through trees or sitting in the room with them. Well done!

4. Writing: 4/5
The writing was great, and honestly one of the highlights of the book. It was absolutely beautiful. The way he set up the book in sections that allowed us entry into different people's perspective really worked to his advantage, and played a large role in helping him sustain the tension. Props for that! This is something that I'm going to be talking about more in my second post on T5W, but Yancey has a real talent for voice.

5. Pacing: 2.5/5
The pacing of the book was a bit slow. The first 100 pages were difficult for me to get through, because it's just us and Cassie, and I think Cassie really shines when she has other people to interact with, which at that point, she only has in memories. The book gets considerably better in terms of pacing and readability once we get to meet Zombie, and she runs into Evan. I docked another point, because the pacing of the relationship was completely out of control and far too fast to me. And the .5 point comes from the repetitiveness of the prose, especially from Cassie. I liked that Yancey picked key phrases, words, and ideas that crossed all the perspectives he allows us access too, but after the first ten times we're told the world is ending and that the humans thought they knew the aliens, but they actually didn't know anything at all or "humans = cockroaches" analogies, I wanted to throw my hands up in surrender, and yell, "Okay, I got it! We are worthless, we know nothing, the world is ending! Take my money, my car, whatever you want, just please can we move on?"

Overall: 3.8/5
This final score was not arrived at mathematically, but it is the score that I arrived at after intense thought about what I would give the book. 4 seemed too high as the book did not exceed my expectations in everything, but 3 was definitely too low, because it was more than just average, and in a couple cases, it did exceed my expectations. Plus, though it might seem somewhat unimportant to most, the relationship really put a damper on this book for me. As I said, it almost made me want to put it down.

Final Verdict: I liked it, but I don't know that it lived up to all the hype.

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