Staying true to your voice. [a writing post]

[daydreammuse]

So, I have read some amazing posts on writing handed out by our very own queenoftheskies  and

Comments

[music_lover3]

Well said. Stay true to your own voice and you can't go wrong.

[daydreammuse]

Thanks. Just me rambling, but it makes sense to me.

[faerie_writer]

In writing you should stay true to yourself and never betray the voice that comes naturally to you.

Hmm ... the only part of my writer's 'voice' that came naturally to me was writing in a teen voice (even though I was nearly 30 when I first started writing with the goal to be published). Every other part of my writer's voice, though, was hard work and never came naturally. It took me years and years to refine my writing till it had it's own distinctive style. So, in the beginning, I'm not sure how much writers should trust in that natural voice, as just like in life our 'voices' deepen and mature as we grow older (or have put in years of writing practise). :)

[daydreammuse]

Agh, I guess I didn't express myself as clearly as I thought I did. By voice I didn't necessarily refer to the technicality of writing rather than the whole mindset and take on portraying a story. By naturally I also didn't envision talent streaming through, but meant it more or less organically developed skills in sync with your world view, if that makes any sense. What I advise is for writers to listen to their intition on how a story should be approached rather than copy paste, be it thought through or not, someone else's. :)

[faerie_writer]

Voice is definitely one of those hard-to-define terms. I guess for me the technicality of my writing *and* the way I portrayed a story seemed to evolve along together at the same time.

[daydreammuse]

Yup, I think a comitee should define all the terms and write them down in a professional dictionary or what. We need it hard defined and not free for interpretation. Of course that is all scenarios in my head. As for reality I agree that there are many aspects to the voice thing. Perhaps we should call it a choir and then number the speakers. Hah!

[lloveland]

Thank you for this insightful entry, I'm new to LJ and writing. Here to learn.

"If you are inexperienced and don't know how to separate your own writing from the one of others, then don't be too depressed, because there is a release for your problems."

Thank you, especially, for that. The more I've been toying with the idea of letting anyone else look at what I write, the more I tend let the fear of my own limitations take over. Whatever I'm reading starts to come out in my writing, and it feels horrible. So what is this release of my problems you're talking about, can you bottle it up for me?

[daydreammuse]

It's a problem we all face at the very beginning. As I said write what you have to write, finish it at first draft stage, then disconnect and try to get into the protagonist(s) head(s) and think like them, imagine how your protag(s) would see and describe the world in terms and emotions and analogies. A painter might look at colors and see inspiration, noise might be a bother to him, while a boxer might draw energy from the cacophony. The voice comes from the characters and not solely from the writer.

Dude, so much AD here, why not clean them all?

[anonymous]

Hello

A fast track Fun food nj?

[anonymous]

Ciao, altogether your nice parents out there