One of the things I've heard over and over as I've worked to improve my writing is the need for a unique voice. That special quality of writing that sets your work apart and captivates a reader in such a way that they can't put your book down. Many times I've read of agents and / or editors who have said they can usually tell immediately if the voice 'speaks' to them or not. But how do you cultivate your voice? And does it change from manuscript to manuscript? And is the creation of voice organic or mechanical or somewhere in the murky middle?
Cheryl Klein,a well known editor, has written a thoughtful post on the subject on her blog. She says this: "Voice is to fiction as air is to life: It's simultaneously everything and nothing, essential to have and impossible to grasp, all-encompassing and absolutely individual." Which really sums the idea up quite perfectly.
She goes on to say: "When I think about voice, I think about how real a sentence sounds to me, how believable it is as the voice of a real human being, if it's in first person; and also about how elegant a sentence sounds if it's in third person (and also in first, if elegance is appropriate for that character)--how smoothly it flows, whether it chooses the right (and yet also sometimes the unexpected) words, its rhythms and its eddies."
You can read Cheryl's entire post here. As for me, I love the ethereal, nebulous concept of voice. Of striving to fulfill the challenge of capturing the true essence of the story and transforming it into words on a page that at the same time, make you forget that you're reading.
What about you? What are your thoughts on voice?
