On Monday night I did my first “official” Ash event at the Kid Lit Salon, a monthly meeting of kid lit readers and writers at Book Passage, a wonderful bookstore in Corte Madera, CA. I was in the company of several other 2009 debut YA authors: Cheryl Renee Herbsman, C. Lee McKenzie, Sarah Quigley, and J.A. Yang. (photos coming on Friday!)
After our initial 5-minute presentations about our books and our publication journeys, we opened the floor up to the audience for a Q&A. One of the questions raised was about finding one’s “voice” as a writer. Cheryl Herbsman, who teaches workshops on the subject, gave a really helpful, concise answer about how to work this out. I can’t give you the details, however, because “voice” as a concept is new and strange to me.
Even though I’ve been writing since forever (well, basically), I first encountered the idea of “voice” when I sent the very first draft of Ash to a friend to read. In her comments she praised the strong “voice” I had. I was like, huh?
My friend is a member of the RWA and has been involved in RWA writers’ groups for a long time, and I’ve heard that “voice” as a concept is very important to romance writers. It was also mentioned practically all the time at the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conference I recently went to, and is a very hot topic in almost all kid lit online discussion boards. I, however, have never thought about “voice.” I have only ever thought about “style.”
The various writing workshops I took in college and grad school were focused on literary fiction or creative nonfiction (essay writing, memoir). Style — in terms of how a writer structures her sentences, which words she chooses, even the metaphors employed — this was often discussed. When I revise (which I am doing now), I think about these things. I don’t think about voice.
This may also be because I write in third person. The only times I’ve written in first person have been in memoir-type personal essays — and the first person is me, so the “style” I write in is also my own. I have no idea how to write fiction in the first person — I feel like I would be totally restricted by that character‘s voice. So, when I think about “voice,” I usually feel that it’s about capturing a first-person narrator’s personality.
For YA writers writing in the first person, which is a lot of us, I can understand how this would be difficult to do. I mean, I’m terrified of ever doing it. Intellectually, I can imagine that developing a character’s voice is about developing the character herself: learning who she is, what she likes, how she would phrase things. And then putting that on paper. But I would feel like a fraud giving advice on how to find your voice, because I’ve never thought about writing that way.
What I can give advice about (though you should take it with a grain of salt, as with all advice on writing) is finding your style as a writer. This, I believe very firmly, comes from a few things:
- Reading a lot of writers to see what their styles are. I don’t think you have to do this in a particularly academic way; you can just read what you like. And if you like an author’s books, read more of them. Then read them repeatedly until you absorb their style by a kind of reading osmosis. (Yes, I believe in osmosis!)
- Write a lot. Write many things, in many different genres, in many different styles. Try copying Dashiell Hammett, for example, to see if you like writing in that hard-bitten noir style. Try copying your favorite writer’s style, to see how that sits with you. The more different styles you try on — sort of like costumes — the more you’ll discover which ones work for you as a writer. (Also, then when people ask who has influenced you as a writer, you’ll be able to tell them!)
I believe that by absorbing many different styles and by trying them on, you’ll start to instinctually discard styles that don’t work for you and refine the ones that do. As you refine the styles that you like, you’ll be developing your own unique style.
Lastly, I think that having a unique writing style is also about developing confidence as a writer. The only way you’re going to develop that confidence is by writing a lot.
Ash is my first published novel, but before I wrote that I wrote three other fantasy novels. Each one was slightly better than the last, and I learned more about sentence structure and pacing each time. I also wrote thousands of (bad) poems, a few plays, many unfinished novels, essays, hundreds of articles for AfterEllen, countless academic papers, probably hundreds of thousands of emails, and filled about two dozen journals writing about my own personal angst. Every word I have ever written has helped me to find my style (or “voice”!). It doesn’t matter whether the work was fiction, nonfiction, or meant solely for my own private consumption. Every piece of writing allowed me to explore my own style, and I’m only just starting to understand how (technically) it works.
So, I guess I just wanted to put that out there. I’m curious to know what other writers think about style vs. voice, and whether you think I’m totally off on what “voice” is. As I mentioned, it’s a new concept to me. New concepts are interesting. 
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I’m so glad you expanded on this here, I was thinking about it on the way home.
This is a great post! I tend to think of style as third-person and “voice” as first-person, too. But there are some remarkable close third-person books where voice leaps out at you: E. Lockhart’s Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is a great example of that.
I loved DISREPUTABLE HISTORY. Do you mean the voice of Frankie leaps out at you, via the third-person narrator? It’s complicated, isn’t it?
Excellent discussion of the topic, Malinda. I think you did a great job with this. And I think you’re right that voice is more of a first person issue and style is a better description of the 3rd person issues. I like your advice!
Thanks, Cheryl. It’s sometimes confusing though because I think when people use the term “voice” they’re also referring to third-person narrators, aren’t they?
I think “voice” is ascribed to an author’s ability to successful provide dialogue (or personal monalogue) that convinces the reader that it is the character’s natural speech/thoughts in the context of each character’s backstory, and the setting/time period in which the story is set. For example, in “The Color Purple,” Alice Walker is successful at capturing the voice of many of its characters by writing dialogue that mimicks Southern dialect, spoken by those of similar social/economic status in the 1930s. Similarly, Walker curbs the dialogue by limiting each character to speak only in the context of their exposure/experience: dumbing the dialogue for the uneducated naive Celie, adding brash adlib with street-smart dialogue for Shug, and providing intelligent, worldly perspective dialogue for the educated, well-traveled Nettie. The “voices” of these characters develop irrespective of the point of view from which the story is told.
On the other hand, I think style is more of a textbook measure, which is attributed to how the writer wants to tell the story. This weighs heavily on point of view, i.e. first/third/omniscent. Citing “The Color Purple” again, Alice Walker chooses to tell the story through the use of diary entries and letters, which limits it to a first person point of view (based on whomever is inking the dairy entries or the letters). The story works in this style because unfolding the story in successive, chronological entries/letters from a narrow first person perspective helps give the reader insight into how little Celie knows and understands of her oppressive disposition at beginning of the story, and lends plausibility to when Celie fights back with fierce force when the truth is all revealed to her through Nettie’s letters at the end of the story. The style piggy-backs on the voices of the characters to make the story work, but it is not dependent on it.
Did I confuse everyone more?
nice post! I don’t scrutinize things like voice and style too closely because I think there is no real way to parse them out into something helpful to anyone else (or even yourself), but I think you’re absolutely right that these things are formed through some strange alchemical mixture of reading-writing-reading-writing, and that it does take a certain amount of confidence, or perhaps boldness, to hear the individual voice/style that emerges. I remember “trying on” styles, much like clothes. My Kelly Link phase, my Henry Miller phase, my William Thackeray phase, etc…and at first it’s alarming how they take over. But eventually, as you keep writing and exposing yourself to other styles and voice, then synthesizing with more writing, all the other voices/styles recede into the background and you’re left with something completely new.
I don’t actually see a huge difference between voice/style. Maybe because I don’t have a perference between 1st or 3rd preference. I like them both, depending on what works best for the story. I’ve even changed a story from one to the other in the middle of things and so far very glad I did.
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