On Gripping and Searching For Talent

I'll admit it: I'm totally gripping here.

I'm trying for a voice I'm not sure I can achieve, and even if I can achieve it once, I'm not sure I can maintain it over the length of a novel. The closest I've ever come to the voice I'm trying for was in a Supernatural fanfic entitled "Corpse Fire," but even that had its moments of adult voice mixed in with the kid voice.

I'm okay with doing the whole thing in that kind of mixture. (Because, really, I kinda like the way that story turned out.) And it would be easier for me, since adult voice is closer to my style anyway.

But my problem is I need a hook. I need something to draw the reader in, I need someplace to start. In the original fanfic version of "The Witch of November," I opened with Allie standing at the fence after Charlie had thrown the Frisbee over it. Since that opening scene was meant to be a teaser--sort of a prologue--I tried to expand it for Chapter One in the novel version. Now I'm wondering if that was a mistake.

I've been reading some of my old stuff over the last couple of days, trying to see where I'm going wrong. I'm not sure I've discovered it yet. I'm not sure I've found my voice. But I have to believe that I will, if only because this feeling of being stuck stinks and the thought of never getting over the hump is terrifying.