Voice is a rather abstract concept in writing and fiction generally. But it’s so important that it deserves mention as one of the core aspects of writing. Voice, quite simply, is what the narrator sounds like. Voice includes the narrator’s emotions, attitudes, perspective, and tone.

As you read the piece, you can hear the narrator’s voice in your head, and the voice leaps out in a particular and funny way. This is especially true in pieces where the narrator is some kind of interesting or unusual character.

Additionally, voice is multi-layered. It includes both the general writing voice of an author, as well as individual voices that are tied to specific pieces of writing. In poetry, you can write a narrative poem in all kinds of voices.

Some writer’s tones are incredibly distinctive, and their sentence structure, length, word choice, and the way the paragraphs flow are original to their writing. In a longer literary work, readers will likely come across different voices as writers create different characters. When considering the difference between the author’s voice and the character’s voice, it’s important to pay attention to when one is used. A character’s voice is specific to a character in a literary work. It is created in order to define them as an individual. Readers should be able to tell the difference between major characters based on their  speaking. One character might be well-educated and prone to using large words, while another might have more basic education and find the former’s use of language elitist.

When using a third-person narrative, the narrator is omniscient or outside and telling about the action. “Half a league, Half a league onward, into the valley of death, rode the six hundred.*” is a famous example of third-person narrative.

First-Person narrative is another way to tell a story. Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “What My Lips Have Kissed and Where and Why” begins “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten, and what arms have lain under my head till morning; but the rain Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh…” Or this famous line from “The Telltale Heart,” by Edgar Allen Poe It was the beating of the old man’s heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.” The speaker of a first-person narrative does not necessarily have to be the author, but can be totally invented.

However you choose to tell your story, choose your narrator wisely. It will really make a difference in your piece. Follow me here the beginning of the month as I blog about writing, the writing process, and publishing.

*”The Charge of the Light Brigade,” by Alfred Lord Tennyson.