Owning Your Voice.
The greatest skill an author can develop is the “Construction of Emotions”. As writers, our job is to tell the story the best way possible — this my friends, requires you to speak.
What is Writer’s Voice?
Like singers, authors must have a voice, their own little way of commanding words to encourage the correct emotions, for current and recurrent adventures.
Voice is, defined by Ginny Wiehardt in the article The term voice defined in writing; as ‘The author’s voice refers to a writer’s style, the quality that makes their writing unique’. In writing, there are many distinct voices that are required to engross readers into a narrative — the writer’s voice is a major one; another is the character’s voice; and if you’re like me, who may like a detached narrator, the narrator’s voice can be a third. Though in most acts of fiction the narrator’s voice is often linked as the writer’s.
How do you find your voice?
Developing your voice requires time and practice — and patience. A great voice can help boost a reader’s experience, whilst a bad one could damage it. The beautiful thing about voices is that we all have one. Our voices are shaped by our experiences and thoughts. This is why writing a voice is so important, it personalizes your story.
Unfortunately, there is no seasoned way to develop your own voice. The best advice many will give is to, emulate.
From my own experience, emulation is the best way for beginners to develop their voices. There is no single route to emulation. The process can be as simple as Finding your favourite author and studying their style, their use of punctuations, grammar and line structure.
I developed my own writer’s voice from reading books relevant to my genre, finding an author's voice I think will fit the tone and verbose personality of my novel, and study their processes. I read about that author’s writing process and follow where I can. To personalize, I add my own way of thinking, blended with my characters and now a simple sentence as:
“The cow jumps over the moon.” can be viewed as “The unevolved elephant, took flight — escaping its earthly bound functions and skipped over the moon’s aura.”
In closing, remember that your voice is yours. A great voice can enhance a reader’s experience — so spend time developing one, and if you feel like you have no idea where to start, there is nothing wrong with emulation. As with all modern stories, it is the past that inspires us to entertain the future.
