The Writing Life
Today’s post is by Jim Dougherty.
Has anyone ever told you to “find your voice“? It’s a curious bit of opaque advice that people like to share, but what does it really mean? Does it mean that you should write about the things that interest you? Does it mean you should become an indignant, uncompromising (underappreciated) artist? Does it mean you should find a voice that someone else wants you to have?
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In the past few weeks, I’ve stumbled upon articles that suggest a person forget the basic rules of writing, grammar, and punctuation. The authors suggest that a person should focus on voice at the expense of those rules. I can’t argue against the necessity of voice – it is important – but I can argue against forgetting the basic rules.
Every piece of writing has a voice. Even if the writing is written in the third-person, that writing has a voice. The reader can hear the timber of it. The reader becomes familiar with it. The voice becomes as real to them as a voice in a conversation does.