Wow!

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/

http://noveljourney.blogspot.com/2008/03/notes-on-voice.html

I tend to think the writer’s voice makes use of that, but I don’t think it IS that.

Maybe I’m defining “style” too tightly, but I also think voice is more than style+content.

Style is part. Sentence structure, word choice, length of paragraphs, use of questions vs. statements, similes vs. metaphors–all that adds to voice.

So does content. More showing, little telling? Oblique conversations? Witty repartee? Drama or humor? Gritty or polished?

But there is something else, stuff I wouldn’t put in either category. For example, as I’ve written a number of short stories, some fantasy and some contemporary, I see some consistent elements, such as symbolism. And a certain kind of symbolism. Another is going for an unusual or surprising twist at the end.

Are these content things? Style things? As I see it, these come from what I enjoy reading. When I put it all together, some O. Henry comes out, unbidden, unrehearsed, and so does a little Lewis, a smattering of Tolkien, and a dash of Richard Adams. Some poetic influences come out, too, without my planning them. They show up because that was some of my reading fodder in which my own writing took root.

So I guess I also stumbled upon an answer to Rachelle’s question: What are some ways to find your unique writer’s voice?

For me, writing short stories, then once I had a body of work to look at, see what the stories have in common.

Becky

Mark said: “My second voice-discovering suggestion is to LIVE, and do it in community. Writers have a reputation for hanging out in the shadows.”

Wow – can I ever relate to that. Even though all these posts are great, those two hit the nail. And I can’t help but wonder if finding my voice has done something to me. This past May, I tap danced in my first recital with a class of high school kids! Ack! I have always, always wanted to learn to tap and for the past three years, I’ve been laboring to do just that. But dance in front of an audience? Sing, speak, act … sure … but no way would I ever dance like that.

However, I did it, and after the feeling of nausea passed, I enjoyed it SO much that I cried when it was done.

All after finding my voice. Dropping the facade. Coming out into the sun.

Wow.

Rhonda(Rkh)

I think it means that you listen to the sound of the words and how they flow together to make a certain mood…whether it’s a stormy night or a hot summer day. Even if it isn’t a poem, you can use poetical methods in your writing.

I think my voice draws from the well of who I am. So maybe there are two components to effective Voice: finding out who I am and learning to express that in my writing.

Expressing who I am in writing, in relationships, or any other context requires a skillset. In my experience, learning to be transparent and honest mimics the processes of developing other skills, including writing. Writers write. People who’ve become genuine, transparent, vulnerable souls have exercised those traits over and over again until they learned to effectively relate to others in that way. It’s a learned behavior. I even believe you can be transparent without knowing who you are – e.g. “I have no idea who I am, but I want to know.” We may do that primarily in our area of gifting (writing), but expression belongs not to any trade or context.

I grew up in an alcoholic home where repression and deceit ruled the day. I hungered for pure and straightforward relationships. I wanted to be that way and I worked at it until I connected with people in that manner. People comment that I have a relatively open and honest personality, but in reality it’s simply a skillset that I valued and then developed during years of making a fool of myself. 🙂

Discovering who I am can, and does, take a lifetime. The connecting with who God has designed me to be is not writing dependent or writing specific. Coming into my late forties, I’ve learned more about myself in the past couple of years than I did in the previous twenty. That’s not to say that everyone learns as slowly as I do, but I do believe Voice can only be discovered, not developed. That discovery (or excavation as Rachelle put it) and suffering seem to have some form of symbiotic connection. Refining processes reveal the pure and the impure, and nothing refines like suffering.

Here’s my suggestion to help discover your voice. First of all, carve out some regular time in a private, uninterrupted space. Sit down with a piece of paper and a pen. Close your eyes, open your hands and heart to receive, and say something like, “Abba, I’m your child. You designed me, You made me, and You cherish me. You planned my days before the foundation of the world. I want to know who I truly am. Who am I? What stands in the way of my living that out?” Write down every impression, thought, memory, etc. regardless of how lame it may seem. It’s basically inviting Him into journaling. Do this on a regular basis until some semblance of a self portrait forms.

On a related note, I believe a primary problem in uncovering Voice revolves around emotional wounding and its offspring, fear. Our hurts change our paradigm for living. Hurt and fear rot our understanding of the true Kingdom – God-breathed and inhabited – and our place in it. They continually demand our best attention and energy be allocated to the task of keeping me and others from touching the inflamed area surrounding my wounds. There’s no getting around this one: hurt and fear must be dealt with. The good news: Jesus heals. Not usually in the manner or timing we demand, but He does. He also liberates – sets the captives free. Inviting him and others into those very scary places begins the process.

My second voice-discovering suggestion is to LIVE, and do it in community. Writers have a reputation for hanging out in the shadows. A wise man once said, “Faith is spelled R-I-S-K.” Follow your dreams, explore, travel, succeed, fail, connect with people, love and be loved, free and be freed, heal and be healed… Life really is short and we’ve only been given one. Go for it.

Connecting the intimate impressions from the Holy Spirit with a life truly lived, brings Voice out of its hiding place. Developing the skill of transparently expressing, gives Voice a platform.

I’ve been thinking about voice a lot lately, and the above quote kind of summed it up for me.

I disagree with the notion that voice is not style. Yes it is but, it’s also so much more.

What do you choose to write about? What words do you choose to tell the narrative portions of your story and how do you knit them together? (Because characters should speak in words, phrases, and structure appropriate to the character but there’s choice there too.) What do you convey through your character’s introspection? What plot points do you incorporate and what degree of emphasis do you place on them in the story?

It’s the thing that makes one person inspiring and another one grate like sandpaper, even if they deliver the same speech word for word. (No specific individuals implied here.)

That’s the authenticity part. That’s the part that can’t be learned.

I read books I love that I would love to have written but I realize then the story would be different because my voice is different. I could write the same story, given a synopsis, and it would become my story, totally different from the other author’s aside from the basic plot. I believe that’s the thing called voice.