What’s in a voice?

Voice:

a writer's unique personality and style that shines through their words, making their work distinct and recognizable.

Out of all the things I have struggled with on this journey to become a better writer, voice has been one of the biggest. I don’t know about you but even with the definition, even with all the books I have read, even with all I have written this concept has eluded me.

Recently I’ve been writing these little exerts about writing and it’s the first time I feel my voice is represented completely in how I am explaining things. Even now though I am unsure of it, unsure in the sense that it’s the voice I’ve heard in my head this whole time but I’ve never been able to write it the way I hear it. Not sure if that makes sense to you because it doesn’t make too much sense to me.

Now the kicker is that my story voice is different than my explaining voice and I do not think I have nailed down that voice. This makes it more difficult to write down the stories that run rampant in this cerebrum of mine. I think the biggest complaint from people is that I tend to mix tenses. Jumping from past to present to future as my story pours from me like water under pressure. And that has been my main quarrel with myself trying to manage the waterfall that are my stories. Always wanting to burst forth from me all at once.

And we are definitely not even adding into all that how sometimes it all meanders melodically musically out of me as if song. In the end I have to balance all this and see which way the story should be birthed. For music is at my soul and it encompasses every bit of my essence.

Here is an example something I have not shared yet,

Stop knocking on this door especially because there nothing here but what you abhor. Why do you want in so much? I am the villain, the bad guy the one who is not what he seems, at least from the rumors and half truths that you release from those perpetually poisonous puckered lips of yours.

That venom that you spit corrodes all around you yet that sensuous scintillating smile seeks surrender from all who get near. Like a symphonic soliloquy of sentences that reach all to hear. Yet all they see of you is a deer.

Ironically hilarious isn’t it? That you constantly claim I am the calamitous one. Yet all along you silently slither with your perfumed poison spiting smite as if it were coquettish complements. Sticking to the shadows as you suck sensuously on unsuspecting patrons that believe every word you utter as if it were scripture.

But I know you, I see you, I make you nervous for my eyes peer through the charade that you show as you. Yet we know that this hoax is nothing but a shell discarded by a snake that sits ready to strike.

————————————————————————

With this piece at least how it stands there is no problem as this is more of a poem. At times though the symphony saunters seductively, scintillating the words making them something more.

Add the fact that I love words and the many ways you can use em. Use em to enhance to add to make a point to use in a way that leaves people thinking. Did he mean to use that word and if he did what’s he trying to say with the use of it. Hey one of my favorite skits is Abbot and Costellos Who’s on first. Such lovely chaos over simple phrasing of words that mean one thing one way and something else the other.

Recently while making TikToks someone left a reply to my how much wood silly post. Correcting me on what I was saying. So I made another video with the correction and then they corrected themselves. To which I made one more video saying Chuck the check and check the Chuck. Simple word play but as always I enjoyed myself.

I do know that all this comes together to create my writing voice. As well as what I’ve read and what’s stayed with me. Like old detective noir stories and the inner monologue of the detective. I definitely know this affects my writing. Sometimes seeping into things were it probably doesn’t work. Yet at times it’s just what I was personally looking for in the story or how to tell it. Heck I constantly hear a narrator in my head either being all trailer man epic or detective monologging.

In fact Voice was one of the questions I stayed with after reading so many books on writing. Voice eluded my grasp danced on my fingertips like a graceful ballerina enraptured by the music. This in turn lead me to my journey to become a better writer the same one I decided to share with all of you. So you and I and I and you could take a journey together to become better writers.

Well I hope this meandering little piece helps with the question of voice. I can tell you that writing it has helped me see things I didn’t see before. But that’s just another lovely plus of writing helping us work things out. As always feel free to ask questions and I may even revisit this topic because I’m definitely still on that journey to find my voice.