Who's Voice Is That?

One of my staff members wrote an executive summary for a report recently.  It was a well-written piece.  I reviewed it. It had all of its parts.  It was grammatically correct.  In short, it was a good executive summary. When our client read it, though, her first comment was, "Who wrote this?" She admitted there was nothing wrong with the writing, but she just knew it wasn't me. I didn't know if I should be flattered that she knew my writing well enough to recognize my voice (or the lack of it) or if I should be nervous because we were caught with someone else in my organization writing it (although there is nothing wrong with our team writing effort in this situation).

There is no question that my writing has a distinctive voice. The whole concept of voice (which is different than tone) is that it is unique to you. It is the quality of your writing that allows your audience to know that you wrote something. Every piece of good writing has a voice, regardless of whether it is fiction or non-fiction. I have read articles on academic writing that discuss the concept of voice as the difference between just regurgitating the research and other peoples' opinions and the contribution that you make to the intellectual discussion. This made sense to me.

I'm sure you have read a bunch of articles and web pages that just repeat information you can find elsewhere. This is particularly true in this age of massive online content generation.  You can find someone online to write a 500 word article for you for $5 and you can slap your name on it and share it or sell it.  So what? What does that add to the discussion?

I was reading my son's gaming blog recently and I was struck my the fact that he has developed a voice that is uniquely his. It made me smile.  OK, I was a little proud, too. He has something valuable to say, and I am certain that the success of his blog is not about grammar and punctuation (or occasional grammar and punctuation errors) or even about the content.  The success of his blog about what he brings to that content.  It's his voice.

If you are a regular reader of any of our blogs (The Grant Goddess Speaks, A Writer's Journey, Sexy Grant Writers, Veronica Robbins Unleashed, Grant Outline, Grant Beast) you can tell who wrote each post based on the voice. Those of us who contribute, including our guest bloggers, each have something unique to say and a very unique way of saying it.

When advising new writers, I emphasize the importance of developing a voice.  This is not about finding your voice, but developing it as a writer. Your voice isn't hidden.  It's you. Developing it is all about learning to free it, rather than suppress it, in your writing.

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Here is some more information about the difference between tone and voice, and how you can develop your own voice in writing.

Related Posts from A Writer's Journey:

What Would You Write If You Weren't Afraid?

So Many Writing Media Choices, But Are We Saying Anything?

When Written Communication Doesn't Communicate

What Men Really Mean

Does Public Education Support or Discourage Young Writers?