How did you find your own personal voice in writing?
And how do you distinguish it from the ringing of everyone else’s?
Can someone who has read you recognize you without you signing your name underneath?
I notice that almost everywhere my characters seem to be great idealists and a little naive. This is characteristic of me and I carry it everywhere in my stories – it’s like people who don’t adapt well because they constantly yearn for a favorite place, and it’s not the one they live in. ❤
Can someone who has read you recognize your writing? I think probably not (unless you have an extremely well-developed voice).
Can someone who knows you personally? I think that’s more likely.
For example, there was a recent press release from my dad’s workplace that quoted him. I read it, and it didn’t sound like him. It wasn’t badly phrased, it just wasn’t how he would have said it. So I asked him about it, and he said someone else had written the quotation, he just signed off on it.
I’ve read multiple of my dad’s books, plus proofread articles and blog posts for him. But I still doubt I would have caught that if I didn’t know him personally.
I do think the gender of the author comes across in the writing, though. I’m not sure what exactly it is, but I can guess with 75-90% accuracy (even in nonfiction). I’d be curious to know other people’s thoughts on that.
I think that’s a fascinating question, Plamen, and I’d love to hear lots of opinions on it.
At The Company, I recently did a game with my apprentices in which they had to write three different flash vignettes, and try to achieve as different of voices for each as possible. When we were done, everyone read one another’s work and tried to guess who had written which one.
My opinion is that it’s a mark of a strong writer to be able to adopt a voice other than your own. It’s a worthwhile exercise just to stretch yourself as a writer.
However, strong writers often have a strong and distinct voice of their own. Even though they CAN write in another voice, there’s a lot of power in developing a specific and distinctive voice, and our personality and values will shine through it.
