Recently, after a writing workshop, I was having dinner with a long-time bestselling author, book editor, and literary agent. The question arose (as it often does in such contexts) of how to counsel new and early-career writers whose efforts appear low quality—and if you can tell the difference between writers who will eventually succeed in the market and those who will not.
Such questions always spark energetic debate. My old standby response is that it all depends on how well the writer can use critical feedback and improve over time. Others discuss the importance of reading. Unsurprisingly, the word “talent” is never far away from such discussions, but it’s rarely considered of utmost importance—just one factor among many.
The bestselling author then brought up that ineffable quality of voice: It’s either there in the writing or it’s not. And some writers haven’t developed or “found” their voice yet. While many structural and development issues can be fixed, no agent or editor can infuse a story with voice if it’s not there to begin with.
In the recent Glimmer Train bulletin, author Scott Gloden says that voice is comparable to how you dance on the page:
It was three years into writing short stories without much guidance that this role of voice finally unlocked for me. I was reading Taiye Selasi’s Ghana Must Go, and somewhere in the opening chapters, she uses the phrase “easy peasy.” Easy peasy. How could something so smart contain such a passingly goofy phrase? But in the context of her voice, it felt entirely natural, nothing lost. It was Selasi dancing out the story, and the rest of that excellent novel is steeped in this same energetic language.
Also in this month’s bulletin:
- Research for Fiction Writers by Susan Messer
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
Going through my undergrad, I didn’t have a professor mention “voice” to me until my last semester. But, it was something that I instantly realized my writing lacked. It’s definitely a hurdle for many rising authors, so I’m glad you took some time to get us thinking about voice.
I am working on setting up a blog myself, so I think drafting up some posts will be good practice for getting more comfortable writing with a voice. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Jane!
Voice is something that I can always improve upon. Whenever I think of a character or even start a paper, I start off with how would they sound like or how would they speak since our voices and speech patterns are easily identifiable. I want to do the same for my characters and even my own writing. When it comes to writing, how would one create a voice that the writers want the readers to hear?
I don’t know that I can realistically answer that in a comment – whole books are written on voice! Writer’s Digest has some good resources if you want to invest in a guide.
Voice is so very important, and not emphasised enough to aspirants.
Good work here Jane.
Thanks.