Voice “That’s what I’m talkin’ about”

Why is it that whenever you call your friends, they always recognize you? It is because your voice is unique! Only you have the voice you have. It’s a shame that this uniqueness does not always carry over into writing.

A Teacher’s nightmare Imagine this. Your teacher is sitting at home on a Sunday afternoon grading papers when he or she would rather be watching baseball. On the table lay 100 essays – all of them exactly alike. OH HORROR!

What Makes Writers Voice? The words they choose. The sentences they construct. The passion they employ. The time they take to make their work something to be proud of.

You have to work with the words. Make generous use of connotation. Words can “mean” in more than one way. Take these words for example. –Walk, strut –Smile, gloat –Look, study They mean the same thing, don’t they?

Words, words, words… If you were a rock star, would you Walk or strut? If you just won the big game over your arch rivals and were shaking hands, would you Smile or Gloat See what I mean? Here’s what you can do. List as many synonyms for walk as you can. Try for 10.

Tiptoe stagger shuffle Amble bounce wander Meander stride pace Stumble glide slink What did you come up with? Why don’t you do it again with look.

Get it? Peek? Peer Stare Glare Study Glance Check out Watch Peruse Ogle Eye

Other Weak Words The “B’s” –Is, are, was, were –Be, been, –Could be, might be, may be, has been … The have’s who should be have nots. –Has –Have –Had Add a be and a has and what do you get? A “has been”