As a teacher and editor, I’ve encountered a lot of good stories. I’ve also encountered a lot of good prose. Much of this tends to be what I think of as “English class” good. By this I mean, everything is correct; the spelling and grammar are doing what they need to be doing; there are no glaring errors; the presence of the author is nearly invisible. This is great for a class paper, for academic writing, and for most forms of journalism.
But when it comes to fiction, and really, I’d argue, any kind of artful creative writing, we want a little more than correctness. We want some style, some verve. We want something fresh and surprising. We want voice.
What’s funny to me is that new writers are often anxious or uncertain about their voice. What’s my voice as a writer? Or: I’m still finding my voice as a writer. You might still be figuring out what prose style you want to employ for this particular novel, but you likely already have a voice as a writer. (I suspect that when people say they are still finding their voice, what they mean is that they are still trying to figure out just what they have to say in their work, which is a different situation altogether.)
So how do you find your voice, then?
