Guest Blogger, Gregory Allen
If you missed the live show, you missed something very powerful and very touching. Gregory Allen’s excerpts from his book Well with My Soul were some of the best I’ve ever heard. I know you’ll want to hear the podcast and get to know this wonderful author. Here’s his guest blog entry.
The Voice is More Than A TV Show
Have you ever read an email from someone and picked up on such wit you knew instantly who it was from? Do you have a favorite blog you follow because you not only like what the person has to say, but the way they tell it? A novel you’ve consumed and then searched high and low for anything else that writer has put to page? So much of what draw us into what we’re reading is the voice of the one doing the writing. I notice it with the host of Edin Radio in both her blogs, the way Jesse speaks on her show and even how she’s interviewed. She makes readers and listeners feel as if they are chatting with an old friend.
It’s important for writers to develop that voice that will beckon readers to continue reading. Naturally when writing fiction, the voice will change based on the character - but the author also shines through in style, phrasing, and word choice. Character dialogue should obviously have their own sense of self, but that narrative is the author and it is what many use to decide if they want to read something else by “X” again.
I know it took a several tries in writing short stories and novels when people started telling me they recognize my voice. I’ve also heard it from people that read my blog. I’ll be totally honest and say I can’t pinpoint what it is that I do except that I write the way I talk. (I’m sure that sentence is full of all sorts of grammatical errors much as my own speaking voice). But it is who I am and I’m nothing if not open and free about being ‘me’.
See if you can find what it is that pulls you in on the next thing you read. Perhaps it is the description or the cadence and rhythm. Maybe it’s the writer’s use of chosen phrases (or non-use of swear words). Whatever it is, I challenge you to reach out to them in a comment on the bottom of the blog or an email with a simple note to let them know you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read. You’d be surprised how many authors will respond back and you will definitely make that author smile with a note of encouragement.
Because in the end - don’t we all just wanna know we aren’t simply writing for ourselves? That someone is actually reading it?
Hello (he knocks on the microphone) - “is this thing on?”
Gregory G. Allen blogs about numerous subjects from weight loss to movie and stage reviews at http://www.gregory-g-allen.blogspot.com/
