Voice

Photo by Robert Zunikoff on Unsplash

The more time I spend exploring “voice” for this post, I am reminded how complex is the creating of this element. For new and emerging writers, voice can be overwhelming. I don’t want it to be so here: note that this post is one you can return to as you build your own layers of writing knowledge.

What is voice?

In literature, the voice expresses the narrator or author’s (or character/s) emotions, attitude, tone and point of view through artful, well thought out use of word choice and diction… A work’s voice directly contributes to its tone and mood, helping the writer create the desired effect he wants his words to have on readers. A piece of literature’s voice is one of its most defining and important features and can completely change the way a story is read and received.

from: https://literaryterms.net/voice/ (I added the ‘or character/s’ and emphasis)

Often when I’m writing a post, I check in with what else on the topic is floating around on the internet. I looked at one piece that said “voice” has nothing to do with grammar, punctuation, structure, wording… (Yes, in spite of the fact that “word choice” is the first in the above quote.)

Whoa! Really?? The piece went on to say it’s about “intention.”

But our tools—our only tools—are these little black markings we leave on paper. Whether paper be tree by-product or virtual, this is all we have. It’s how we show intention. Indeed, it’s the only way we can show “intention.”

Often writers are advised about what voice is not. Let’s try to see what it is:

In the book I recently reviewed, Fiction Writer’s Workshop, Josip Novakovich makes the point that voice is about the spoken word—it’s about how your written words sound. That’s a useful way to consider it.

I’ve had the experience of reading my on-the-page work in public, sharing it aloud, and realizing that as I’m reading I’m making changes. (At such moments, I think of all the times I advise others to “read aloud as you work!” And the further step of reading to others.) There is a rhythm shift—something subtle going on—that I can’t see on the page, I can only hear it.

Speaking is voice/voice is spoken

You might begin your writing time with reading aloud whatever portion you worked over the day before. It’ll get you into the space of a particular character’s mind (or the narrator’s); you can note the changes that come as you read aloud. With any luck (?!) yesterday’s work will flow into today’s, and you’ll get writing. You can read it aloud at the close of the session, or again to jump-start the following day.

As you read, note: do you improvise? change things, add, delete? What does that tell you? Can you hear the character’s voice? (Or voices, if working in third person.)

Timothy Findley’s partner, Bill Whitehead, read his hand-written pages aloud every night before supper. A gift.