So, the topic of voice was brought to my attention today. Questions like what are we talking about when we say an author has a good voice, what is voice in writing, can it be taught, how does someone improve their authorial voice; these were all discussed in length, though it was never concluded as to just what voice really is in a text. I tried to define it several different ways because I know voice exists I just wasn't really sure how to point it out. It can be painfully obvious when compared that different authors have different ways of saying things. Stephen King comes to mind instantly because he has a very distinctive voice; I can always guess an quote from King. There are other obvious examples, like Faulkner or Hemingway, authors who we use to now describe the voice of new authors, but what is voice really?
Voice could be almost anything, it could be the author's choice of words, where they put certain phrases, how they say certain phrases. Voice could be how the author constructs thoughts, describes a tree, strings words together; voice could be the feeling of the author coming through the text. Passion, coming through the words.
Maybe that is why voice is so hard to find in modern stories. Maybe, due to the readily available numbers of MFA programs - due to the thought that creative writing can be taught like history, mathematics or science - due to the very business-like world of publishing and the ability to screen artists for the proper academic degrees the feeling, the emotion, has been sucked out of the art. And isn't that the heart and soul of the whole endeavor; passion?
A friend once told me that it is a curse to be an artist because we are entrusted with feeling and expressing emotions for our whole society. He said we feel emotions twice as strong because we need the surplus to poor into our art. I loved this idea because it gave me an excuse for my "moods"; for crying at every episode of Bones I watch and for getting as passionate as I do over all the little things in life. (I will literally sing over a particularly fluffy blanket or dance for a bizarre new fruit at Shnucks) The more I think about what he said the more I see he is right. Emotion is what brings the story off the page, it's what fills each word and makes the pages fly by unseen but felt. The good books make me feel the same emotions as the characters.
The great books can make me sob.
Voice in a story is the emotion of the author; for the topic, story, even the individual characters. (I've cried over killing some of my darlings, but for the sake of the story it must be done.) A strong voice can transfer those emotions from the page to the reader.
So, what has sucked this passion from our modern writers; and, more importantly, what can we do to get it back?
2 comments:
Oh man! We are in a voice crisis! You know what half the problem is? There really ARE people out there who feel strong feelings and sing out and dance like you, but those people are not easily commodifiable (if that's a word). Eccentricity is only valued by publishers and such to the degree it is marketable! Look at Dharma of Dharma and Greg! Her eccentricities ran out of sell power and away the show went....wait...did I just equate her with a great artist? Oh well. The point is--it's not JUST a lack of passionate writers, you know? It's a lack of daring promoters, too! Sigh. Well, if it makes you feel any better, there is hope: two days ago my niece sang an extended song about how her toy dinosaur was eating up all the dead ladybugs in the house, and how happy it made him. I sense greatness on the way!
-C
C : Sorry I didn't find your comment sooner! I'm kind of used to writing these things for a readership of zero. Anyway, I totally agree with what you are saying, publishers really don't want to risk profit on new authors right now. In fact, my father was pretty much told this by a publishing company. It's kind of a sad state of affairs for the eccentric writer, but I am hopeful. I read a LOT of new fiction and there are good new writers out there getting published. I have to hope that maybe some day that will include me. And maybe your niece! ;-) (I LOVE how inventive kids can be, their imaginations are endless!)
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