A writer's voice bubbles over with their feelings about their topic. Change those feelings and the voice used changes with it. Sometimes its as easy as making a decision. I recently heard one author say he had found himself using the word “seedy” to describe inner cities too often. He stopped and took the time to imagine how that would affect a reader living in an inner city. Now he makes certain to never use that or related words, and notes that consciously seeking better ways to describe city life has changed the way he writes.
Voice changes naturally when writers have a specific audience in mind. Think of your speaking voice. I bet it changes naturally depending on your audience, just like mine does. I can baby talk with the best of them when facing an infant or toddler. A teen or tween, an acquaintance or friend, coworker or boss, to a relative about the boss all require different voices. When I concentrate on who my listener is, I code switch without needing to consciously think about the change.
A writer's voice is the sum of the choices he or she makes while communicating information about a subject, and information about themselves, to a particular audience. Personality, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings about things, all being conveyed to a certain audience. Mainstream authors who want to write inclusively should first work to develop an inclusive Voice. It’s not enough to just want to write about diverse characters. An author must accurately see, hear and feel the world their diverse characters inhabit. If they can’t do that, their reader won’t be able to either.
Don't try to please everyone and end up with that voiceless "designed by committee" manuscript. Find that special audience member, and work to please him or her.
Now take a deep breath
and let your voice flow.
5 comments:
You are spot on when showing how our "natural" or "normal" voice changes depending on our audience. I really hadn't thought of it that way. Thanks for this post. I'll be more aware of how I write in the future.
Great post, B. A.! I highly recommend your class "Adding the Spice of Diversity" (http://www.babinns.com/spice-class/).
Thanks, B.A.! great tips on Voice!
"Mainstream authors who want to write inclusively should first work to develop an inclusive Voice. It’s not enough to just want to write about diverse characters. An author must accurately see, hear and feel the world their diverse characters inhabit. If they can’t do that, their reader won’t be able to either." This is so true!
I just realized why, as a child, I didn't understand the main character in a middle-grade book about the world of Australian horse racing was an aborigine boy facing prejudice until well into the book. The author neither shared the boy's ethnicity overtly nor developed an authentic voice for his character. (The boy's family were not part of the story.) I stopped reading that author's books.
Love this: "Find that special audience member, and work to please him or her."
It is so true that the way a writer thinks, feels, acts is projected through her characters. I know that is certainly true of me. I can't help it.
Definitely a good reason to make sure I personally know a diversity of people. Without that I am making guesses or letting my own preconceived ideas take hold that may not be reflective at all of that person, culture, or experience.
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