Ape-ing
I was listening to Mike and the Maddog on the radio this afternoon. They were doing play-by-play for the second game of the Big East Tournament. And it struck me that, having not done play-by-play much, Chris "Maddog" Russo was pretty much ape-ing guys he's heard before. He was using phrases that is seems I've heard before from other play-by-play guys, and Maddog's style was pretty much not his own... other than the fact that he couldn't pronounce many names.
That got me thinking about learning how to write and finding your voice. Elmore Leonard used to say that writers just starting out should try to imitate their favorite writers and eventually their own voice would shine through.
But it leads me to a question: Does your own voice shine through naturally, or is it something you have to work at?
I know, in terms of me, I probably started out aping Parker and Lehane's PI stuff (along with all the other PI stuff I'd read at the time) only to decide that Donne had to sound more Jersey and had to sound like I talked. There were some moments of conscious decision there.
So, what do you guys think? Do you have to work to make a voice your own or should it come naturally?
That got me thinking about learning how to write and finding your voice. Elmore Leonard used to say that writers just starting out should try to imitate their favorite writers and eventually their own voice would shine through.
But it leads me to a question: Does your own voice shine through naturally, or is it something you have to work at?
I know, in terms of me, I probably started out aping Parker and Lehane's PI stuff (along with all the other PI stuff I'd read at the time) only to decide that Donne had to sound more Jersey and had to sound like I talked. There were some moments of conscious decision there.
So, what do you guys think? Do you have to work to make a voice your own or should it come naturally?
Labels: College Basketball, Voices, Writing
posted by Dave White at 2:46 PM
5 Comments:
Personally, I think a distinctive voice comes from lots of practice. And I don't think it's anything you put into your writing - it's what you can't take out.
Anyone entering any field begins by mimicking those with more experience. If you never choose to move past this stage, you will never develop ingenuity and never reach your full potential.
That said, specific to writing, it seems to me developing a trademark voice is only useful when writing recurring characters. If you're writing different characters in different genres, there's no reason they should sound the same. They should instead take on their own personalities, and any overall narrative tone should hit the particular notes of the genre you're writing.
I agree with Graham that there's a part of writing that's unique to the writer because every person's perception of the world is different. If you give the same writing assignment to a hundred people, each person will have a different take on it. I don't know that this adds up to voice.
I think every writer has a voice that comes through no matter who or what they're writing about. Not ever character has to sound the same or act the same way, but I think a writerly voice often can be found when you read a writer's work... so you can tell it's Author so and so when you read.
One example that I have noticed - Donald Westlake, writing as Richard Stark, has written novels featuring both Parker and Grofield as the protagonists. They are totally different, but the authorial voice is the same.
(Although Westlake may be an example of a guy who cannot be identified by his writing. If you didn't know he was Stark, you would never guess.)
Dave writes:
I think every writer has a voice that comes through no matter who or what they're writing about. Not ever character has to sound the same or act the same way, but I think a writerly voice often can be found when you read a writer's work... so you can tell it's Author so and so when you read.
You would only detect the voice you're referring to if you read a lot of the author's work. If you have some idea of the author's tics, you know what to look for. And again, one of the reasons you'd spot these tics is that the author has written recurring characters whose voices are supposed to be consistent.
Does an author's perception of the world weigh enough that it would be detected in everything he writes, specifically fiction? Not necessarily.
Genre fiction isn't a good place to test because, on some level, a writer may be expected to bring some of his trademarks to a new project--to help sell the project.
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