"Elusive Voice Thingy" Redux

Voice.

What in the hell is it?

I’m serious. There’s a reason Macy calls it “the elusive voice thingy.”

I keep reading that we all have unique "writing voices," but often we can’t really "hear" those voices ourselves, even when others can.

I’ve read that “voice can be defined as the writer's awareness and effective use of diction, tone, syntax, unity, coherence and audience to create a clear and distinct personality of the writer, which emerges as a reader interacts with the text.”

I’ve read that voice is who we are, what we have experienced, what we have read,whom we have met on our journey through life. All the living we've done comes into play and these collective experiences meld into voice.

Laura Backes at Write4kids.com writes--

One of your most powerful tools as a writer is not your vocabulary, your mastery of grammar or even your fancy computer -- it's your voice. Your unique blend of description, character and style allows you to talk to the reader through the printed word. Without a voice, a manuscript may have an exciting plot, interesting characters and a surprise ending, but it might not get published. The voice is what beckons the reader to curl up with a book and whispers, "Pay attention. I'm going to tell you a story."

Editors are always searching for new voices. Yet, when pressed, most editors find it hard to describe exactly what a voice is.

Clear as mud, no?

Will Kalif states that finding your unique writing style and voice is much like chasing a wild unicorn. You can’t do it. The harder you look, the further away it gets. You have to let it come to you by writing a lot.

I admit that I’m not overly worried about voice because so far people have said that they like my voice and that I have a distinct voice when I write fiction. Even when I speak people tend to ask me where I’m from. I say the Midwest, and they say, “No, no-- before that. Like from what country. Where were you born?”

Uh, in the Midwest.

I suspect what they’re thinking is “What planet are you from?” Yeah, yeah. I’m a little paranoid. But really, what do they mean by that?

Anyway . . .

As I said, in terms of my writing voice I’m not overly worried because I do believe it will come to me as I continue to crank out pages. HOWEVER, I would like to be able to describe it. I’m into navel gazing, if you haven’t noticed, completely and utterly obsessed with exploring, analyzing, describing and defining the experience of being Moi. The problem is that I can’t hear my voice. If I can't hear it, how can I describe it to anyone who will listen, let alone explore and analyze it?

Others have told me that it’s bold, edgy, blood red against a black border, in your face, funny, sharp, breezy, fun, irreverent, chick lit like.

Maybe.

I decided to answer Macy’s questions to see if that helped.

Q: Why are you writing?

A: I’m a communicator. I’ve always been compelled to read, write, talk a blue streak, tell stories, punctuate my stories with animated gesturing, write and direct all the neighborhood kids in plays, turn academic papers into stories to provide the right analogies. Also, writing helps me think, sort things out. I use stories as a way to describe and understand life. It’s the means I use to analyze people, ideas and experiences. While I’ve just started writing novels, I’ve always written – poetry, prayers, short stories, letters, emails, academic papers, newpaper and newsletter columns and articles, journal entries. It’s my form of therapy.

Now, if you’re wondering why I've chosen to write books, it’s because I love them – I’m a true blue bibliophile, a book collector, a person who has no clothes in her closet because all my spending money goes to books and book cases. I like movies, too – but the books come first for me.

Q: Why write now? Why not at some other point in your life?

A: Okay, I have ALWAYS written—just not novels. Actually, I remember trying to write a novel in third grade, comparing it to Anne of Green Gables and thinking, “Hmmm.” I don’t know how in the heck to do this. I was a perfectionist back then so I stuck to writing plays because that was mostly dialogue. I became a rebel in high school and college. A party animal. A slacker. Over time, I decided I didn’t have the talent to write fiction so I became a shadow artist by going first into marketing, then into bookselling, then into teaching language arts. Once my son was born, I decided it was time to live my dreams so I wouldn’t be a pathetic little hypocrite without the guts to go for it, without the guts to follow my bliss. I write now because when I saw my son I realized I was good enough, talented enough, blessed enough to be whatever the heck I wanted to be-- and I also thought he deserved a mom who made her dreams come true.

Q; Why write what you write? What drives you to tell your stories the way you do? What is the reason behind the stories? What's your big picture?

A: I’m writing my first novel, but as I pointed out, I have written poetry, plays (as a kid), short stories and creative nonfiction. The truth of the matter is that they are all about me, in one way or another. They are about why I think life is beautiful, why I think one should seize the day, why love must prevail, why I think there are things we will never be able to explain—like why we love who we love and whether coincidences are more about probability, divine intervention or Jung’s collective unconscious and synchronicity. They are about what it is like to be a middle class white woman living in this time and this place – and they aren’t wrapped in pretty pink paper with shiny, silky decorative bows. They are more raw than that – bolder, edgier, sharper, more “real”, more "in your face" – because I think beauty lies in rawness and reality. I think the way things really are is amazing, awe-inspiring and good enough. My stories are breezy, airy, light, fun and funny (hopefully) but anchored to Earth and its cycles (life/death/rebirth)– because I’m of both Air and Earth elements, born on the cusp of Taurus and Gemini.

My theme?

I have no idea. I think its along the lines of “Life is difficult, but once you accept that you also find that it is beautiful, sweet, abundant, hilariously funny and very good.” Also, as an accompaniment to that, falling in love is all its cracked up to be, even if it takes more than one "true love" to get your happily ever after (which can still take work, btw).

I found a worksheet from Barbara Samuel’s workshop that you may be interested in. One of the questions she asks is—

If you weren't a writer, but could be any other kind of artist/musician, what would you choose? What would be your tools? why?

My immediate answer was that I’d be the lead singer/songwriter of a rock band. I realized after the fact that my main tool would be my bold voice (again) along with my edgy lyrics, soulful music full of hooks and rockin' body language. It’s highly likely I’d be singing about love and lust -- and myself.

Interesting.

As it turns out, I'm every bit as self-absorbed as I've always suspected-- but, uh, er, hopefully in a good, unoffensive way.

So how about you? How would you describe your voice? Why do you write what you write?

Thanks for a great topic, Macy.

Cheers and happy writing,

Alyson