Voice

I can just feel it. When I base my characters around people I know very closely or myself I can tell they are genuine and have a true voice. It just flows. I hope this helps!

I try on a new voice with every project. I don't see the need to find your one true 'voice'.

My voice changes with the project. The Mythos series is casual; the Covenants series is more formal; Deception is pure smartass. It depends on the book.

I think half the joy of being a writer is being able to try on new voices -- like clothes. Maybe you'll find one particular "voice" that you prefer, but being creative involves trying new things, branching out, challenging yourself.

Depends on the project. I have my fiction voice and my academic voice.

I can't see mine in my writing. Others can, though, so it's there. I have no idea what t sounds like though, or if it's any different than others. I can't tell when I'm writing in my voice, but I can tell on a reread if it's an "Effie" story. Don't ask how I know, cause I don't know that, but I can tell.

I'm in the "change it up" camp. My short fiction tends to have a choppy, highly sensory voice that is probably not to most readers' tastes (though people who like really literary fiction will enjoy it.) My longer fiction is intended to be more saleable, to make me more money (or that's the plan, anyway), so I want the voice to be more accessible and to take less of a central role. Hopefully one can still tell by my word choices and tropes that it's Libbie's fiction, but it's not as WOOooOOOoo VVVOOooIIIiiiCcey as my short stuff.

(in my short fiction, for example, writing "WOOooOOOoo VVVOOooIIIiiiCcey" might be totally acceptable, whereas I'd never try something so weird in the more commercial stuff.)

You can find a unique voice for every new thing you write. You can stick to one basic voice for everything, too, if that suits you. There's no rule here. And you can make lots of errors in any voice, as well. That's what revision is for.

Edited to add: I wanted to address the last part of your post, too. There was no "eureka" moment for me, except to realize that I'd been told over and over I should write in a very dry style with the simplest possible words and the least challenging tropes I could manage, so that everybody could enjoy my work. I was unhappy doing that -- I wanted to immerse myself (and the reader, I hope) in all my characters' senses, and create more memorable images than what was merely comfortable for the reader. So when I stopped giving a crap what other people thought of my writing (except for those I've asked to beta read and help me improve it), I found a voice I really liked. It's not going to be something every reader likes. It will turn a good deal of readers off, I imagine. But it's a voice I love to use, and that's what matters to me.

Am I still working on it? Of course! I'm still working on everything about my writing, and always will be. I'm never done learning this crazy crazy craft.

I'm told I have it, but I figure it's just like my speaking voice--I'll never recognize it if I heard myself anyway.

My consolation is that "it's natural", whatever that means.

While my particular voice changes with every project, there are underlying stylistic tendencies that, I think, will mark something of mine as mine. And it did take a while to develop that voice.

For me? I can look back and see a particular story that was a turning point for me. I don't think I knew it at the time, though. I had a sense that I had crossed some kind of line as a writer, but I couldn't tell what it was.

I still remember the one story I critted of yours, Kuwi. If that's the one that was your turning point...it was a fine point to turn on. I loved it...and the voice it was delivered in.

I haven't found MY voice but I've found character voices. I "know" when I've found it because the damn thing all but writes itself.

No eureka moment. In fact, I can't see it in my writing, but I had someone recently say I had a really strong voice.

I think that we are born with a ‘voice’, one that can be trained and constantly improved, but it’s basically the same voice, a distinctive view of the world that could even be inherited.

If the other writing tools are in place, then our writing success depends on the number of readers that like to hear our voice, providing we have sufficient luck to pass the other hurdles first. I hesitated before using the word Luck, but there are so many examples around to prove a certain amount is necessary for a writer to become noticed in the first place.

Your first manuscript needs to land on the right desk at the right time, and I believe that even a genius’s manuscript can loose its way without a certain element of pure luck. It doesn’t negate the hard work theory, but the number of people who profess to dislike Dan Brown, or JK Rowling points to the best voices still only appealing to some audiences.

That’s my voice; I couldn’t change it drastically even if I stood on my head.

KTC said:

I still remember the one story I critted of yours, Kuwi. If that's the one that was your turning point...it was a fine point to turn on. I loved it...and the voice it was delivered in.

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Oh I see, it's like that is it? You've forgotten me? Nay - abandoned.

Well fine.

I've had enough of you. SPAZ.

scarletpeaches said:

Oh I see, it's like that is it? You've forgotten me? Nay - abandoned.

Well fine.

I've had enough of you. SPAZ.

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bite me, Amadeus.

I repped you the other day...no reply. I was like, 'pffft!'

scarletpeaches said:

Oh I see, it's like that is it? You've forgotten me? Nay - abandoned.

Well fine.

I've had enough of you. SPAZ.

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KTC said:

bite me, Amadeus.

I repped you the other day...no reply. I was like, 'pffft!'

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There's enough of me for both of you; you don't have to fight over me.

I'm not fighting Kevlar for you. I just fight him for the joy of beaning him in the face with a housebrick.

scarletpeaches said:

I'm not fighting Kevlar for you. I just fight him for the joy of beaning him in the face with a housebrick.

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Sure.

kuwisdelu said:

There's enough of me for both of you; you don't have to fight over me.

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How about a little sugar for Libbie?

Okay, seriously, here: LuckyH brought up an interesting point. I wonder if we have a sort of default perspective on the world that comes through in all our work, in spite of conscious attempts to use a varied voice. I do see a consistent pessimistic theme in my fiction that I find satisfying and pretty -- I can't label it, except to compare it to these They Might Be Giants lyrics: "No one in the world ever gets what they want, and that is beautiful. Everybody dies frustrated and sad, and that is beautiful."

That does sort of pervade all my stuff, even when I try to keep it out. So LuckyH, I wonder....

I'm told I've a good 'voice' and it varies according to the story and to the MC. It's not a conscious effort on my part. It just happens.

Luckily, it seems to work.

*shrugs*

Libbie said:

I wonder if we have a sort of default perspective on the world that comes through in all our work, in spite of conscious attempts to use a varied voice. I do see a consistent pessimistic theme in my fiction that I find satisfying and pretty -- I can't label it, except to compare it to these They Might Be Giants lyrics: "No one in the world ever gets what they want, and that is beautiful. Everybody dies frustrated and sad, and that is beautiful."

That does sort of pervade all my stuff, even when I try to keep it out. So LuckyH, I wonder....

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That really is an interesting point. I've noticed the same thing in my own writing, regardless of story or genre. My main characters are always tortured heroes, driven toward atonement or redemption for a wrong of their(perceived or actual) doing. More often than not my main characters are women, but this theme extends to the men, also.

This is always the case, even when I write comedy.

I also can't help but give them a happy ending. They deserve it after all I put them through. I'm an optimist, and in the end that seeps into all my writing, too.

aadams73 said:

That really is an interesting point. I've noticed the same thing in my own writing, regardless of story or genre. My main characters are always tortured heroes, driven toward atonement or redemption for a wrong of their(perceived or actual) doing. More often than not my main characters are women, but this theme extends to the men, also.

This is always the case, even when I write comedy.

I also can't help but give them a happy ending. They deserve it after all I put them through. I'm an optimist, and in the end that seeps into all my writing, too.

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I’ve always believed in the principle of a distinctive voice, much the same as those other attributes that we can’t change, like fingerprints and DNA. Why should the thoughts in our head be any different to our skin and bones?

During a recent bout of house cleaning, prior to a pending move, I gathered up those written memories of early years, not many, but a few letters and essays written in my early teens. Even though the writing is raw and undisciplined, I recognise my voice in its early stages of development. I was going to say that there is a superficial likeness between how I wrote then and my latest, highly polished output, but it’s much more than that, my voice is already easily recognisable, as are my thoughts.

I’m an optimist, with a quiet determination to speak out against unfairness, my perception of it, and I thought and wrote that way when I was 12, and still do. I’m also in the Happy Ending camp, even after writing reams of unhappy happenings earlier on in my story.

Now I am tempted to go loot my mom's attic and get my box of old writing just to see if I can detect the same thing.

Fascinating.