" Friends, Romans, Country men, led me your ears!" (from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare), Weird way to begin, I agree. However, if you noticed the title of this post it makes perfect sense. Today I'm talking about the voices (both characters and others) that float around in a writer's head on any given day. Example of a voice I hear: "Be is a linking verb! NO linking verbs!" courtesy of my high school English teacher. Yes, I still can hear the voices of my high school English teachers. Does that strike you as odd? Maybe. But you have to understand the English teachers I had. I went to a co-ed private Catholic high school. The English department was incredibly strong at the time (I don't know how strong it is now, but when I was there it was rock solid). For essays, et cetera, we we not , by any means allowed to use linking verbs! That was one of the mortal sins of writing in high school English. In almost any other class we c...