Hey, I'm Talking to You. Not Writing at You.

Voice. Literally, sound produced in the larynx and expressed through the mouth. More abstractly, the way of expressing an idea in words

Either way, auditory or written, voice is unique per person. Just imagine: your mom yells up the stairs, “Honey, come down for dinner!” versus your romantic partner says, “Honey, dinner is ready.” These mean essentially the same thing (i.e.: you’re about to stuff your face) but they have two totally different connotations. The former likely precedes an unwanted inquisition re: who you’re dating, what your grades are, how much money you’re making, etc. Whereas the latter likely precedes getting happily wine drunk and some cuddling on the couch.

Obviously, voice is easy to distinguish when you physically hear the words from a person’s mouth. How can you distinguish written voice, though?  This is a bit harder, but any good author will use a strategic pattern of word choice, phrasing, sentence structure, and even punctuation to make us readers feel as if we can hear the person talking to us.

For example, consider Jen Glantz, author of the blog titled, “The Things I Learned From.” Whenever I’m scrolling through different blogs, I can always tell when I’ve come across something from her before I even look at the byline. How? A few tip-offs:

(1) She adopts a familiar tone with the reader, as if you’ve been pals for years. Sometimes she does this by asking rhetorical questions, such as, “that sounds crazy, doesn’t it?” and “but what happened?” like in her humorous post, “Why Dating Exit Interviews Should Exist,” in which she narrates a failed first date. Other times, such as in her tirade, “Dating is Extinct,” she uses the second person pronoun:

“You had to get off the couch….”

“You actually had to turn off the TV….”

“[You had to] change out of your stained Scooby-Doo Christmas fleece pajamas….”

By openly criticizing the reader for being lazy, she assumes an air of familiarity.

(2) She makes frequent references to contemporary social media. 

When she’s trying to justify why a guy didn’t call her back she says, “maybe he’s an alien and secretly lives on Mars….” which references John Gray’s book.

Another way she tries to cope with her rejection is by saying, “I’m not ready to kick my Tinder addiction….” in reference to a hookup app launched by USC last fall. She mentions it again when she says, “now we just swipe left, left, left. Click next, next, next…” 

By incorporating well-known social media, she demonstrates to her college-age readers that she’s just like them. She’s not some granny who doesn’t “get” this generation.

(3) She uses repetition of the plural first person pronoun, which not only makes her writing sound more like talking, but also promotes a sense of inclusion. When she discusses rejection, she says:

“Well, then we tell ourselves it’s okay. We tell ourselves not to get too attached….We mourn just a little bit. We tell our roommate that we’re done with this whole dating thing….We don’t count our losses. We say ‘next time.’”

(4) She establishes a down-to-earth quality by making fun of herself. Not only does she admit to brainstorming her blog in the shower, she says failed dates make her dig a spoon into some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. This is how she lets her audience know she’s not some pretentious, aloof dating psychologist. She’s a single young woman struggling with the same game.

(5) Her quirky use of imagery. Very few people can get away with saying things like, “When I went in for a kiss, she turned her head and for two seconds, my tongue got real intimate with her cochlea.” But after reading a lot of Jen’s blog, it’s the pictures like these which have made her sense of humor distinct in my mind. Hence why I’ve chosen to include it as characteristic of her writing style.

Voice ought to always complement the content, not contrast with it. Otherwise, readers will move on. And, when the topic is something as personal as dating, voice is especially important. With the five strategies discussed, in conjunction with several unmentioned others, Jen establishes herself as a trustworthy, approachable source of information.

I could go on and on, but I’m at the word limit. My point is this: it is entirely possible to have a strong voice through written word. If the author is skillful, he/she can write in a voice so distinct it becomes immediately obvious to the reader whose name is in the byline without having to check. It is these authors who have human “voices” in the heads of their readers.

Now about that dinner….