Writing with voice is writing into which someone has breathed. It has fluency, rhythm, and liveliness that exist naturally in the speech of most people when they are enjoying a conversation. --Peter Elbow, Writing with Power
So getting back to latest edition of Poet’s & Writers -
Jonathan Galassi, president and publisher of Farrar, Staus, and Giroux was asked What are you looking for when you’re evaluating a piece of fiction? Are you looking for any kind of sensibility or anything like that?
His answer: I think that would fall under voice……voice is one way of looking at it but aliveness is another.
So what is voice? I went to write101.com and Susan J. Letham says….
Voice is a reflection of your experience and how your characters experience the world of you story.
Voice is the way you’re your words “sound” on the page. The way you write - the tone (friendly, formal, chatty, distant, etc.), the words you choose, pattern of your sentences and the way these things fit with your character’s personalities.
What do I think about voice?
I know that voice develops over time as you develop over time as a person. My voice is different than what it was in my 20’s, even 30’s. I feel it more confident, more worldly. (At least I think so)
If I had to define my voice I liked to think of it as edgy and hip (of course, this could be just the voices in my head telling me what I what to hear).
Voice definately changes. Although I hope mine is still fun and fast-paced but ideally, wiser?
ReplyDelete