Writing

Hearing Their Voice Virtually Every Time We Read

We’ve grown accustomed to the sound

It doesn’t happen in my little world of writing very often, but the idea for this story popped into my head as I was in the middle of writing another story. Yeah, I know. For some of you, this situation may happen all the time. Well, I ain’t all that good at mental multitasking. So imagine my quandary.

I had to stop and spew out the basic premise in my draft folder and then go back to my current story and try to pick up where I left off.

Okay, what was the butler doing in the library with that damn candlestick in his hand? Uh, looking for a match? Searching for some brass polish? In the library? He’s not going to find brass polish in the…

Oh yeah, that’s right, now I got this.

So, I finished the story I was working on. Spoiler alert. It was Colonel Mustard in the kitchen with a meat cleaver.

Immediately following, I wrote this piece. So let me ask all y’all a question. How many of you writers new to the scene when you read one of your favorite writers, hear their voice and feel their tone as you tag along with them for the ride?

Unless it’s an audiobook and the actual writer is reading aloud, you’re probably not hearing the writer’s voice, but when you read the words yourself, you have a chance to actually connect with the writer, hear their voice, feel their tone.

I wrote a story yesterday about verbalizing or speaking with our words, and that’s what brought this story to the forefront. This is something every writer needs to do, establish their own distinct tone and voice.

Each of us has our favorite, that writer who lays down just the right pace, uses that distinct phraseology which is magically spellbinding. Be it horror, thriller, suspense, love, fantasy, non-fiction, erotic or confessional, we’ve learned to “hear” the voices and sense the tones of these writers.

We’ve grown accustomed to the “sound and feel” of their writing.

There are a ton of writers here I love to read, and I’ve read them so much I’ve picked up on their authenticity. So much so, I’ve become conditioned to expect their voice and tone to jump out of the words when I read along.

Think of it this way.

If all of us writers were poker payers (I can’t even do simple multiplication in my head. You think I can really count cards?), these exhibitions of tone and voice would be known as “tells”. If we were to sit at the table with our fellow players long enough, we would be able to win a few more hands simply because we’ve learned to expect the predicted results of these tells.

Unless those sitting at the table are picking up on our own tells.

Not cool.

I still remember something a writing sister of mine wrote a couple of years back about reading and being able to identify a few writer’s works even if their names weren’t associated with the piece. I believe a lot of us would recognize some of our favorite writers in that manner. A few paragraphs and our brains would be telling us, oh yeah, he/she/they wrote this.

Suffice it to say each time I read something from a bevy of writers here, I not only feel their “tone” but I “hear” their voice as they tell the story. Each time, it’s a completely different story, but always captivating. I’ve grown accustomed to the feeling of their tone and the sound of their voice each time. And they have never let me down.

This is why it’s so terribly important for new writers to discover that distinct pattern of writing that brings out their tone and voice and displays it to the world. Look, it ain’t easy. Most times it takes years to establish those distinct “tells”, those identifiers which delight a reader.

Until you do, most of your work will most times seem tame and lifeless to the reader. No matter what the subject is, it will more than likely flat-line right out of the gate.

That’s why every time you, as a new writer, sit down to write you need to reach down deep and pull your tone and voice out and set it on the desk next to you, have those two hooligans pouring over every word you write. Let the real writer in you examine and judge what you just wrote.

Is what’s being said just being said and laying there like wet cardboard, or is it being told by you, in your own special flair, written in that — you and only you — manner?

Is what you just wrote authentically you?

If it ain’t start over and do it again.

No, don’t let your tone and voice slip back into the folds of your brain. Make those suckers sit right there and go over this second attempt, or third attempt or as many attempts as it takes until all three of you are happy campers.

Hey, if you’re willing to do the work, your real tone and voice need to put in the time as well.

Now I believe I’d be doing you, the new writers here, a humongous disservice if I didn’t at least give one real-world example from one of the hundreds of writers I love to read.

I’ll give you a short example, a mere snippet, but I challenge all of you to learn to write as this writer does. No, don’t copycat him, learn to feel this writer’s tone and hear the writer’s voice well enough so you can develop your own.

Ready? Here we go:

I finally said good-bye and went home. On the way home I thought about how monumental change always happens from the bottom up instead of from the top down. I imagined a world in which animals, children, and adults all frolicked barefoot in the grass together. Could Earthing help bring about such a world? Could animals and children lead the way in reconnecting humankind with the planet they have become so disconnected from? Would adults disengage from their distractions long enough to realize what the animals and children are showing them? Will animals, plants, and humans join together to enter a whole new reality? Will we finally enter a new golden age?

Some of you may know this writer immediately. If so, leave me a comment on who you think it is, and I’ll tell you whether you’re arctic cold or inferno hot. And if you have no idea who this writer is, shame on you for missing out. Shoot me a comment, and I’ll clue you in. This writer is deserved of some of your read time.

Just don’t forget where you got the tip, folks.

Daddy P.G. needs a read every now and then.

This is just one example of the thousands and thousands of writers and stellar poets here who have genuinely established very distinctive tones and voices with their writing.

Practice, new writers. Practice damn hard until the authentic you eventually flows out on your screen. Change that wet cardboard into fire and brimstone and grab our attention with an authoritative tone and voice.

We are always looking for another tone to feel or voice to hear.

Thank you so much for reading. You didn’t have to, but I’m certainly glad you did.

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