Mastering Internal and External Voice in Thrillers and Dystopian Series with Author Kristin Oakley

I’m thrilled to introduce my guest this week, Kristin Oakley, an accomplished author of award-winning suspense thrillers and young adult dystopian series. Kristin’s works include 'Carpe Diem, Illinois' and 'God on Mayhem Street,' as well as 'The Devil Particle' series. She’s also deeply involved in the writing community, teaching workshops and critiquing manuscripts.

In this episode, Kristin shares valuable insights from her writing journey and discusses how she found her unique voice early on. We explore her books, where characters' voices evolve distinctly through her conscious craft skills — particularly her current work on 'The Runner' featuring multiple character perspectives. 

Kristin explains the challenges of writing in different characters' voices and how she’s navigated that in her new series, we even offer listeners a peek into her meticulous process by reading an excerpt from the book before and after fine-tuning the main character’s voice.

Whether you're working on your first draft or your next book, Kristin underscores the importance of just completing your book before getting too granular on details or aiming for perfection. Our conversation emphasizes staying true to your voice, enjoying the process, and learning through critique. This episode offers valuable advice on navigating your writing journey while engaging deeply with your characters to maintain a compelling narrative.  

Key Topics:

• How Kristin has allowed consciousness to come through with her writing voice
• Voice can be closely tied to what you like to read
• An example of how Kristin refined the main character’s voice in her recent novel
• Handling internal and external voice in character writing
• Setting as an important aspect of developing voice
• How finding and claiming your voice can be helpful when marketing your work
• Kristin’s thoughts on readers reading a series out of order
• Using Scrivener as a helpful writing tool to help with continuity in series writing
• Why is voice so overlooked in writing workshops when it’s so desired by agents and publishers?
• Taking constructive criticism is key to uncovering and claiming your unique voice
• If you’re going to spend 5 years writing a book, you’d better love what you’re writing about
• Just finish the book — Kristin’s advice for first-time writers

Connect with Kristin online:

Website: https://kristinoakley.net/

Newsletter: https://kristinoakley.net/category/newsletter/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kristinoakleyauthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristinoakley4/

Find more from Jill:

Email: [e-mail]

Website: https://www.thewritersrefuge.com/

Writing Coaching Programs: https://www.thewritersrefuge.com/coaching

Sign up for my free 3x weekly writing session: write to [e-mail] for ZOOM info

Special thanks to LVDY for allowing us to use their song, Saltwater, in the intro and outro of the podcast!