How Your Voice Makes a Well-Traveled Topic Fresh Again
Reinterpreting the subject matter from a personal perspective
While writing an essay about Finland and the magical resonance that happens when traveling, I felt a familiar nudge. Do readers care? Is this experience worth sharing? Do I have anything new to offer?
Yes, yes, I do, I thought. Embedded in the narrative is a thought-provoking concept about how travel interweaves present and past to teach us about ourselves.
Even though the “delights of travel” articles are plentiful, perhaps this offers a layer of reflection. What’s even truer? When we share stories in our unique voice, we make them new again.
Cultivating Your Voice
What is voice? Like the rich undertones and soulful pitch of a human voice, written voice sounds distinctly personal. Sometimes, readers can identify the author simply by scanning the passage. We “hear” the turn of a phrase, the cadence, the framing of the viewpoint, the delivery, which all reveal the writer’s signature style.
Most features, essays, nonfiction books, and certainly fiction convey the author’s (or character’s) voice. Many strictly journalistic pieces do not have a particular voice. They are reported information, relayed precisely, and shaped with skill and style but not with an identifiable voice. Perhaps multiple reporters contributed to the published version.
If we ghostwrite a piece, it will express the voice of the bylined author — the subject matter expert or, in the case of a memoir, the main figure. Even though another writer penned the text, the voice resides with the owner. As the owner reviews the draft, they sense if it sounds like them and rephrase those sections that don’t. This attention to flow maintains continuity.
What You Say Matters; How You Say It Matters More
Like listening to a classic song covered by our favorite artist, a new rendition takes us to an unfamiliar place. We feel a buzz of recognition mixed with revived appreciation. The lyrics and rhythm are the same, but the new voice adds a unique freshness. The song feels reinterpreted.
This refresh also applies to writers. It is nearly impossible to pursue a topic that writers have not already mined, so voice offers a clarifying difference. Another essay about growing older? Annie Lamott spins a story in an opinion piece for The Washington Post that is relatable and resonant.
“Every so often, even in heartbreaking times, the soul hears something so true out of the corner of its ear that it perks up, looking around like a meerkat for the source,” writes Lamott in Age Makes Miracles Easier to See.
A reported story on financial independence? Abby Perry takes new ground with a personal response angle in Common Good.
“If there’s any cynicism I brought to my investigation of the FIRE movement, any jaundice to my eye, it’s something in that sphere. I wanted to know if pride and self-condemnation rested at the heart of the movement. I wanted to know if achieving financial independence was inherently tied to a ruthless pursuit of personal excellence,” says Perry in This is FIRE.
We can tread populated trails so long as our combination of viewpoint and storytelling takes us to a different place.
How Good Editors Can Enhance Your Voice
Although it is counterintuitive, editors can often hear our voice more clearly than we can. They point out where we have strayed, and it no longer sounds like us. Editors pick up when we echo a fellow author or otherwise lose our authenticity.
They also pinpoint places where our voice garbles in the process. We think our communication is clear, yet our point gets lost in stylistic phrasing or complicated words. Perhaps we need to separate thoughts into different sentences. Or we’ve moved outside the scope of the subject, and we need to narrow back in.
As frustrating as an editor’s responses can be, they typically have merit. Considering their suggestions may make our work more powerful, tighter, and more understandable.
So, my traveling essay? I have written and polished it as I seek the right venue to place it. It may or may not see publication, or the article may end up folded into a broader piece. Wherever it lands, it sounds like me. Depending on the reader, this means it is creative and carries layers of meaning, or the style is dense and a smidge too deep. I accept both reactions.
Beth Dumey writes about a variety of topics, generally revealing insights, ironies, and perceptions. She holds master’s degrees in both Communications and Counseling Psychology.