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A lot of talk goes on about writers finding their voice. It's talked about as though an epic quest is involved, probably including an elf, a dwarf and a whole lot of horses who run like hay-powered cars.
This might be how it is for some writers, but it wasn't for me. I already had a voice when I first came on the internet. People would read my postings on newsgroups and forums and say "you should be a writer". I laughed at them. After all, I was posting silly stuff about kittens or why pixies were to blame for everything. It wasn't fiction.
But sometimes, I'd give writing a story a go. Those stories were technically correct, lifeless and dull.
The lightbulb moment was realising I could write stories in the same language as my forum posts. I was allowed to make jokes. I could break grammar rules. I was even allowed exclamation marks, in moderation!
I'm not the only one. I've seen a lot of cases where a writer puts up something boring for critique. After being told it's boring, they reply to explain things. The reply has evocative language, passion and all the things the writing lacked. They have their voice. They just haven't realised it yet.
Following mystical guidelines for voice finding may work for some people, but for many, it's like searching for your glasses when they were on a string around your neck the whole time. My advice for finding a writerly voice is much simpler: look in the mirror. Your voice is waiting in your daily emails and forum posts.
10 comments:
Good point! I have no problem displaying my voice when writing non-fiction. But staying in the head of various characters and sounding like them while maintaining a semblance of my own voice in the writing isn't quite as easy. Sometimes we just try too hard.
I popped over from Twitter and will be back to check out more of your posts. Happy writing. :)
Yes!
That is all :)
Carol J. Garvin, I tend to focus on different aspects of the way I speak for different characters. One character might be more serious. One poetic. The other chatty. But they're all ways I speak in different situations.
It doesn't work for all characters, but it's not a bad basis.
Samuel Mae, Yay!
I think I tend to lose sight of this!
I think I've discovered my voice but it's still quite boring. People on Twitter call me witty and funny and I'm pretty sure that doesn't come across in my writing. Although that's down to the fact that my writing tends to be angsty and tragic...
Good point! I think we sometimes get stuck in technicalities and the "do & don't" rules. We just need to be ourselves.
Voice is something your readers stumble upon and you develop through practice. An undefined IT that comes through the words but can not be assembled in a factory or taught in a classroom.
Very frustrating....
;)
You are probably right. I don't think I've heard someone say how to find your 'voice' in this way.
I came over from twitter, I'll probably stick around. Nice post!
fairyhedgehog, Yay!
Jettica, I find it hard to resist adding funny stuff in dark tales. I have a dark sense of humour at times.
Erin Brambilla, I came into writing through reading, so I was oblivious to most of the 'rules'. I've heard of them now, but I think it helped to start out just by writing what sounded right.
ralfast, Your voice didn't come from the secret factory in Germany?
TayLyee, Thanks! Glad you liked it.
@Polenth:
Ssssshhhh!
:D
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