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March 6, 2005

Finding Your Voice, by Les Edgerton

For the first few pages of Finding Your Voice: How to Put Personality in Your Writing, I didn’t think I’d get much out of it. Les Edgerton didn’t sound like any writing teacher I’d ever listened to. By the time I’d finished reading Chapter One I felt more at home, and I knew I’d continue reading. Why? Les Edgerton understands voice, and he writes about it in a way I understand. What put me off at first? Surprise. I’m not used to finding such a friendly voice in a book on writing.

For years, as a young writer, I wondered what the heck people meant when they referred to “voice” in writing. How can writing have a voice? It doesn’t speak, it sits there on the page, silent. You R-E-A-D it. Were these people hearing things? After a while it sank in, what voice is, but I still didn’t know how to get it into my work. Sometimes I found myself writing in a voice I knew was mine. But where had it come from? If I lost it, how would I find it again? And I did lose it. It came and went like that of a fourteen-year-old boy soprano. This distressed me, because I knew no editor would accept my work unless it had a consistent voice.

Enough from me. Les Edgerton has a lot to say about voice, and the way he says it is as important as what he says. He shows how a writer’s voice is much like that used for speaking. It expresses who the writer is. It’s not the writerly style assumed by new writers as they struggle to follow the rules—punctuation-perfect but without any soul, the kind of writing that gives you nightmares about diagramming sentences. It’s not the mechanical style of writing I was forced to adopt as a technical writer. It’s not the monotone of academia or the teletype chatter of a newspaper. Voice reveals the living, breathing person behind the words. It can be casual or formal, it can follow the rules or not. But in every case voice reflects the individual writer and, when needed, the fictional character.

Unfortunately, finding your voice isn’t as easy as defining it. We all struggle with it, whether we’re attempting to write something publishable or not. Have you ever agonized over the wording of a sympathy note? A get-well card for someone with a serious illness? You were likely struggling to find your voice. It’s when we’re tied up in knots to write something important that we’re most likely to lose it.

Finding Your Voice first helps us understand how and why we lose our voices. Then it takes us through common obstacles to a natural voice, offering ways to recognize and overcome those obstacles, with exercises designed to help us jump back into our real skins in our writing.

One bold departure from the lessons of other contemporary writing books is Edgerton’s assertion that we don’t have to write the first draft without editing. In many writing books today we’re instructed not to edit during the first draft. “Write in the flow,” we’re told. “Don’t listen to your internal editor.” While Edgerton doesn’t put down the writing and creativity teachers who profess this, he does acknowledge that’s not the best way for all writers. He himself edits while in his first draft. He says it saves him a lot of editing time. He gives the writer permission to do the same, provided it’s your voice editing, not the belittling voice of your “Critic Nag Dude.” For some of us this approach offers a perverse kind of freedom. It’s not just okay to write freely without editing. It’s also okay to edit as you go, to let your editor come out and play with your writer, if that’s the best way for you.

Edgerton demonstrates that a strong voice is recognizable on the page, in his “Recognizing the Elements of Style Exercise,” at the end of Chapter Six. I amazed myself by recognizing most of the seven authors, five of whom I’d never read before. Which reminds me to encourage you writers who’re unsure of your voice: Don’t just read this book. Do the exercises as well.

— Barbara @ 7:16 pm PST, 03/06/05

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11 Comments

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  1. 1.

    With the advent of the word processor I’m not sure there is such a thing as a “first draft” anymore. I fiddle with every sentence and paragraph as I go along. By the time I finish a page I’ve already done more tinkering than I ever did in the correction fluid era. I can see this might arguably be the wrong approach but I don’t know if I could prevent myself doing it that way.

    Comment by Eric Mayer — March 7, 2005 @ 9:02 am

  2. 2.

    What an incredibly useful book review. You’ve done all the heavy lifting. It sounds like a worthwhile book for writers. I’d been composing (in my head, the place of my first drafts) a posting on “voice” for some time, but it seemed I had nothing to say. Now I’ll just send readers here. Thanks!

    Comment by Georganna Hancock — March 7, 2005 @ 2:23 pm

  3. 3.

    Dare I say, I’m speechless. Great Review.

    Comment by Reenie — March 7, 2005 @ 8:47 pm

  4. 4.

    Eric: You may be right that there’s no such thing as a first draft anymore.

    In the second creative writing class I took, many years ago, we were instructed to keep stream-of-consciousness journals. This was years before Julia Cameron’s “Morning Pages,” and Natalie Goldberg’s free-flowing first draft advice, so I guess the notion has been around for some time, to write in the flow. But that method may be most useful for training and jump-starting one’s creativity. I’ve found that at least a cursory edit of what I’ve written before I move on can provide a kind of settling factor. Some days I feel more relaxed knowing I’ve fixed something, that I’m not in danger of missing it in the next draft, so I can focus on the story rather than those loose threads. Other days I’m simply in a rush to get something down, and I type straight through without pause while the idea or the character’s voice is alive in my mind.

    Georganna and Reenie: Big thank you. :)

    Comment by Barbara W. Klaser — March 8, 2005 @ 11:01 am

  5. 5.

    Heh heh. You’re a weenie-dog lover. I also grew up with them — my folks got our first one when I was 7 yrs. old and I clearly remember the day we picked her out. She climbed up on my lap and started nibbling on the button of my coat, so my folks figured she’d be good with kids.

    I’ve enjoyed your comments, and I really enjoy your blog! I’m a major reader, and among all the various genre of the books I read, I truly enjoy mysteries. I’ve also always loved writing (since even before having doxies in my life), and so I’m intrigued with taking the time and effort to attempt fiction. So far, poetry is what I’ve had some success with. But fiction is my true love. Time. Discipline. I need a good dose of both!

    Comment by Tonya — March 12, 2005 @ 12:00 am

  6. 6.

    Dear Barbara Klaser,
    I stumbled upon your review of my book “Finding Your Voice” today and was overwhelmed by the nice things you had to say about my book. I just wanted to thank you. You may be interested to know that I’m writing a new writing book which will be based on a teaching technique I use now in my creative writing classes at the University of Toledo. Simply put, I use various movies to illustrate techniques writers should use. For an example, I often use Callie Khouri’s screenplay of THELMA & LOUISE to show how backstory should appear in a story. Never at the beginning and never blatant, but just as Khouri does. The backstory that’s important in this movie is why Louise shoots and kills the would-be rapist who’s just attacked Thelma. If she merely shot him because of his insult, the movie would have failed. But, Louise has an extremely valid reason and it’s that motivation that’s the backstory. Khouri doesn’t reveal it until the movie’s nearly over and she doesn’t spell it out in full, but gives the viewer credit for figuring it out him or herself. Brilliant screenwriting. Anyway, this will be but one of many illustrations of how films and movies can help us become better fiction writers. Don’t even have a title for it yet, as I just came up with the idea two days ago, but I’ve already got several publishers interested in it.

    Anyway-just wanted to thank you for your kindness in reviewing my book. I’m delighted you found it helpful.

    Blue skies,
    Les Edgerton

    Comment by Les Edgerton — March 31, 2005 @ 8:50 am

  7. 7.

    Les, thank you for stopping by my blog and commenting. I’ll look forward to your new book. I picked “Finding Your Voice” up at a time when it was exactly what I needed.

    Comment by Barbara W. Klaser — March 31, 2005 @ 7:13 pm

  8. 8.

    I just read this book, based on your review. My comments can be found here, if you are interested.

    Comment by Peter — April 13, 2005 @ 8:15 am

  9. 9.

    Barbara,
    Thanks for sharing your thoughts on voice in reviewing the Edgerton book. While I haven’t read the book, I felt your observations worth sharing with other writers…and posted a link on Wordswimmer. I hope you’ll find my own musings on voice worthwhile.
    Thanks again.
    Bruce

    Comment by Bruce Black — March 12, 2006 @ 11:19 am

  10. 10.

    I typed in “les edgerton” in Google and this page was the top result. I’m in the middle of reading his book, “Finding Your Voice.” I like your site and just wanted to thank you for the comprehensive review.

    Comment by John Wu — February 11, 2007 @ 11:36 pm

  11. 11.

    Les, I wanna say a big thank you from down under. I have been struggling with my writing for years, realising something was missing. There were a few pieces I’d written that my writer’s group really loved - and the reason for this was they were written in my voice.
    I had clues along the way - but I wasn’t able to figure it out for myself. I kept thinking of the Og Mandino stories and how they just flowed. I also loved Barbara Kingsolvers’ ‘Poisonwood Bible’ told by the four children in the story.
    Suddenly all the pieces in the puzzle fitted - it was all about voice. I thought of the classes I conduct in business and computing (with lots of motivation and humour) - and the great feedback I received was because of my style, personality and just being my own crazy self - with some helpful stuff for my students.
    Duh - why wouldn’t it be the same for my writing ? Communication is what it’s all about.
    Thank you for getting me excited about writing again.
    Nychelle
    Ps Not edited - I’ve just told you how I felt about your Book -’Finding your Voice.’

    Comment by Nychelle — February 8, 2008 @ 5:42 pm

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