Mastering Voice: The Personality of Writing

Voice is, for most writers, the most challenging and elusive creative writing element to define, what’s more master. This is because a writer’s voice—just like a singer’s voice—is not one entity. It’s a quality comprised of many components: point of view, vocabulary, punctuation, syntax, rhythm, descriptive techniques. Further, those components vary greatly from writer to writer, from piece to piece, and in relation to one another. One style of voice might rely on a punchy rhythm but employ few descriptive techniques, while another may feature descriptive techniques but have a more languid rhythm.

Complicated enough? Sure, but add to the challenge is that the writer can’t force a voice, at least not entirely. To some degree, voice must emanate naturally and intuitively from the writer.

And yet, voice is what makes writing distinctive and memorable. It is, in fact, the very personality of your writing.

Fortunately, writers can study the elements of voice and practice them, in order to discover and develop their own voice and let it imprint their writing as uniquely their own.

In this online writing course, examples of voice from literature, music, and art will deepen your understanding of and appreciation for voice. You will explore all these elements, experiment with them, and emerge with a stronger voice for your writing projects, making them memorable and engaging for readers.

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