Oh No, I’ve Lost My Voice
As a writer, you may have come across the idea of voice and how important it is to your story. But what exactly is ‘voice’ and how do you capture it? Before you reach for a throat lozenge or a recording device, let’s look at what voice is, as it has a few components:
Narrative voice
This is the style and perspective from which the story is told, i.e. the narrator.
Characterisation of the narrative voice is a critical element in story telling as it strongly influences the reader’s emotional experience and satisfaction with the book.
Characterisation means how the narrator is ‘shaped’ through their tone, word choices, personality, gender, social class etc. Are they a reliable narrator or not? Do they have a vested interest in the story – what’s at stake for them? Are there special features of narrative voice that point to the story’s genre, themes or setting? Tense will also play a part in the reader’s experience. Another important decision that impacts narrative voice is the point of view (POV). Choosing POV is like deciding how zoomed in or out you’d like to be when taking a photo. Will your story be told in first person, through the eyes of the narrator who is an active participant in the story (e.g. I said, I walked, I nodded)? Will it be third person (e.g. he said, she thought, they ran)? Third person can be subdivided into limited/specific point of view, meaning the story is told from one character’s point of view alone so readers only see, know and feel what the narrator knows. The alternative is third person omniscient point of view, where the story is told from a more flying-over-the-action perspective and readers can see, know and feel the experiences of multiple characters in addition to the narrator. Less commonly used in fiction, second person perspective is where the narrator addresses the readers directly, such as how I am talking to you right now. It’s seen more in self-help works or pick-a-path books. Whatever POV you choose, the key is to be consistent and that it amplifies the narrative voice.
Active and Passive voice
Active voice allows the subject of the sentence to drive the action forward. It generally follows the rule: subject —> verb —> object (e.g. Kate typed a letter). Active voice brings the reader right into the action through creating blow-by-blow immediacy. It can be more engaging to read than passive prose and so it’s a key tool for building tension in an active scene. It’s particularly useful in stories with a first person or third person limited point of view. By contrast, passive voice emphasises the object or consequence rather than the person or action. So, instead of ‘Kate typed a letter’, it would be ‘A letter was typed by Kate’. Passive voice is great if you want to add formality, mystery or have a sense of detachment, such as where the perpetrator of an action is unknown. Most fiction is written using active voice, so be selective about when you use passive voice as overdoing it can make your story feel weak, vague or distant. It’s also important to avoid blending active and passive voice within the same sentence or idea, as it usually comes across as clunky or amateurish.
Authorial voice
This refers to the style, tone and perspective that an author brings to his or her writing, a bit like an invisible fingerprint. I say invisible because you don’t want to leave clues in your writing that clearly show it was made up by a writer as this undermines the story’s believability and reader engagement. For example, if you have one character lecture another in the text, it can come across like the author is lecturing the reader, especially if the tone, style or content is out of kilter with the characterisation of the person giving the speech. Make sure to wipe off any unintentional authorial fingerprints during the editing process. When used for good, authorial voice supports narrative voice to create connection between the text and audience. It also adds credibility when writing about topics, settings or occurrences with which the author is intimately acquainted through lived experience. This is called ‘own voice’.
Now that you’ve found your voice, the challenge is to harness these elements to craft the best story that you can. Good luck!
