Blogfest Day 22 ~ V is for Voice
The concept of the singing voice is fairly straightforward . The four basic categories are : soprano , alto , tenor , bass . Your vocal style could be blues , jazz , pop , rock , gospel or possibly a combination of any two styles . Vocal pitch is high/low . A vocalist can perform a capella (unaccompanied) or with accompaniment . These are just a few aspects but they are understandable .
The concept of the writing voice , on the other hand , is still something that I'm not too sure about . It seems to be difficult to define . Or am I the only person grappling with it ? To my understanding , it is a combination of writing style , choice of words , length/variation of sentences . Am I correct ? But is that all ? Is there a definition for writing voice ? I've also read comments that say a writer's voice becomes clearer/develops with experience … what does that mean ? Is it true ? Does that mean that a novice has a writing voice that is under-developed or obscure ? Maybe somebody can give me a simple explanation …
I think, perhaps, if you look at books by different authors, you might be able to "back into it." Helen Fielding (Bridget Jones Diary) vs. William Faulkner vs. Tom Clancy.
I know that my "writer voice" is chatty and conversational, very light, although sometimes I do write on deep subjects. An newbies would have styles and voices they're just settling into.
From your comment , it seems that voice is either formal or informal ~ is that correct ? Thanks for sharing .
Voice is always the hardest element of writing I think. Its hard not to mix up our voice as writers and our characters voice when we're writing.
nutschell
http://www.thewritingnut.com
But isn’t it unavoidable that your writing voice will creep in somewhere ? I’ve read that a good method to separate character’s voice from writer’s voice , is to interview your characters . I wonder if there are any other methods …