Voice Lessons

“Today you are You, that is truer than true “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” “Your Majesty. Please… I don’t like to complain. But down here below, we are feeling great pain.” "From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere!" Who wrote this?

How did you know?

It makes reading interesting. It makes us recognize certain authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien or Sandra Cisneros. It keeps us involved. It adds color and texture to communication. When you see a painting, it makes us recognize the artist as Van Gogh or Picasso. When you hear a song and know who is singing, that is voice. It is the expression of personality or the fingerprint of creativity. What is voice?

Voice is created through conscious choices. The writer, painter, or musician purposefully chooses his or her “tools” (words, colors, instruments) and uses them in ways to create a certain effect. When you consider these conscious choices, ask yourself these questions. 1. What is he/she (or the work) saying? (What does it mean?) 2. How do you know? (What evidence from the work?) 3. How does he/she do that? (What tools does he/ she use to create meaning, and how does he/she use these tools?) Voice is created through conscious choices.

1. What is Van Gogh saying about himself 1. What is Van Gogh saying about himself? Complete the 2 statements as if you were the Van Gogh in the picture. I am……. I feel……. How do you know what Van Gogh is saying about himself? What evidence can you find in the picture that supports your statements. You try it. Do the same with Marc Chagall, another famous artist. Create a Venn diagram and show how they are similar and different. Focus on the choices the artist made.

Read the simple sentence. The little pink fishes swam upstream and died. Is this sentence sad? Think about this carefully. Don’t focus on the idea of a dying fish. Instead, focus on the sentence itself and the effect it produces. Does the sentence make you feel sad, or like crying, when you read it? Why or why not?

Most people will agree that the sentence is not very sad. Why Most people will agree that the sentence is not very sad. Why? What specific characteristics in the sentence keep it from being sad? As you identify these characteristics, you are beginning to look at the tools writers have to choose from as they create voice. You try it? Write a sad version of the sentence, The little pink fishes swam upstream and died. What did you do to make it sad? What conscious choices did you make?

1. Diction: This is the author’s choice of words 1. Diction: This is the author’s choice of words. It is the foundation of all good writing. 2. Detail: These are the facts, observations, and incidents that develop a topic. Writing is flat and boring without detail. 3. Figurative language: This is the use of words in an unusual way to reveal new meaning, meaning that is not literal and makes the reader think. Elements of Voice

4. Imagery: The use of words to capture a sensory experience ( what you hear, see, taste, touch, and smell). Imagery brings life to what you write and makes it seem real. 5. Syntax: This includes sentence structure, word order, and punctuation. Tone: This is the expression of attitude in writing. Writers express tone through the use of diction, detail, imagery, figurative language, and syntax. Elements of Voice cont.

Diction: The author’s choice of words The perfect word is clear, concrete, and exact. It perfectly expresses the feeling and ideas you want to get across. Some words are forbidden; they have lost their freshness and impact. Eliminate the following forbidden words from your vocabulary: Good, nice, pretty, beautiful, fine, bad, thing, really, very, terrible, wonderful, and a lot. Diction: The author’s choice of words

Denotation & Connotation Denotation: the literal meaning of a word Ambitious & eager: desirous of reaching a goal Connotation: the meaning suggested by a word, the feeling evoked by a word Ambitious: feeling of wanting something for selfish reasons, that sometimes ignores the feelings of others Eager: a feeling of enthusiasm & fresh optimism. (more positive) Denotation & Connotation

Formal: You are writing a school paper to convince the principal that your opinion about school uniforms is the correct one, you should use formal, strong, and specific words with clearly understood meanings. If you are writing a short story to be read by people your own age, you might want to use slang and lots of teen dialect. Words can be formal or informal, depending on the writer’s audience and purpose