Fiona speaks of using a particular voice for her character, she has to step into that character to write with that voice. The voice to Fiona will come from the personality, mood, and other characteristics of the narrator.

Randy speaks of an author’s voice being something that belongs to the author rather than the character. This might be because he has in mind an external narrator and the writing style of the author will show through differently.

If this is the case, maybe there are two questions regarding voice that we should look at.

Much of my writing is technical stuff, generally workplace related. This results in a stripped down, matter of fact, rather bare style of work. Technical writers have a voice or style, and some of them are easier to read than others, but most do not let their voice intrude.

My short fiction has a different voice, but people tell me it’s recognisably me. They can ‘almost hear me talking’ while I’m telling the story. People do not say that to me about the technical stuff.

My novel uses the voice of the character (first person narrator), and he’s very different from me in personality and presentation. I do not speak or write in the voice of that character in any other environment. People do not tell me that they can ‘almost hear me talking’ when they read the novel. Rather, they make comments about the character as if he’s a real person in his own right - which, in their own head, he is.

Perhaps it’s this experience that leads me to want to ask Fiona a few more questions about her original query.

However, there is one thing that I’d say to Fiona. The book has to stand on its own merit. It has its own requirements and makes its own demands of the author. Her choice of voice for the character should come from this understanding rather than from how much work it will take to write.

Randy, on a side note, please elaborate some time on what kills story, so I can stop doing it.

I fear my current novel is slowing down to funeral procession speed by over-plotting. I have a list of scenes I intended to include, but looking at the entire list, I see a 647 page, slow moving story in the works. I’m about to get really crazy and just toss the list and go SOTP. Don’t dare me, I’m this close to doing it.

I think this makes a lot of sense. Whether it’s a character voice or an author voice, each should work within the novel’s demands. The novel is the most important persuasive factor. Yes, as an author you should have a unique voice, but that voice should be slightly different or masked depending on the novel.

I’m sure there are other ways, but like Randy says, your voice will most likely develop when you’ve 1) read enough and 2) experienced enough to find that you are drawn to a particular type of life ideology/perspective that naturally begets a familiar writing style.

I set up and run an online Peer-to-Peer critique site for Speculative Fiction authors of a certain niche genre. A while back I set up an identity using my pen name as an ordinary user to check out some of the technical glitches we were encountering with the website.

At the time I thought it would be a fun writing challenge to see if I could maintain that identity as a separate person, an evil twin if you will. I even wrote some simulated arguments between us.

Well, it didn’t work. Within less than a month the other authors in the group pegged my pen name persona as being me. The giveaway was my “writing voice”, they said we were too much alike in our voice to be two separate people.

My comment on “the same old thing” touched on my concept of what our “writing voice” is. In the realm of preaching there is a true aphorism, “a preached Gospel message is not the study of a few days or a week, it is the outflow of your life and character.”

I’ve been a bi-vocational gospel minister for 30 years. In my secular career I became a trainer and teacher of various business disciplines. I have a lot more experience preaching, writing curricula, writing technical reports and training/teaching/presenting in industrial settings than I do writing fiction.

In each of those disciplines those who knew me told me that they could identify something that I had written just by reading or hearing it. My authorial voice was distinctive.

In a sense I don’t think it’s correct to limit this concept of “voice” to just writing stories and books. It is the way that our personal life experience, our aspirations, our values, and our world outlook flow out of us into whatever we do in life by way of personal or professional expression.

There is a writing voice that goes with our general voice. As Randy mentioned some people call it personal style, but since style is a technical skill in the writing field I think it goes beyond style. It is your spirit, the way you parse the world of experiences and explain them, how you rationalize the reality you live within and how you deal with challenges.

Okay, that’s probably way too philosophical (hey my basic degree is in Philosophy, sorry); suffice it to say after many years of observing behavior and interacting with people industry, church and society I’ve come to believe that “our Voice” authorial or otherwise in an integral part of each one of us.

I think the reason it takes time to develop our own “Authorial Voice” is that until we master the mechanics of writing style we aren’t really expressing ourselves yet. It’s a bit like learning to play a musical instrument, you can’t express yourself in your music until you master the instrument and the type of music you wish to play.

So, Bottom Line: Fiona, don’t worry about your “Authorial Voice”, it’s already in you. You merely have to master the writers trade well enough that you can let it out when you write. That will probably be when you can just sit down and write easily without having to struggle with grammar, style and structure. Then Fiona will be speaking in your prose, and your voice will be heard.

Now my own voice is telling me I’m not explaining myself properly. Oh, well, time to go silence it with an overdose of monday morning coffee.