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    Today I was reading writers' blogs.  Because I didn't want to do any real work.  And I came upon a Web site called Writers Unboxed (see my Blogroll).  There are several writers, editors and agents who contribute to this blog, and the monthly theme was "voice"--an important part of any writing...that I don't often think about.

    Over years of writing, I have developed a "voice" to my writing.  I try to write the way I talk.  Or, at least, the way I talk inside of my own head, since most of my writing lately is monologue.  When I talk, I don't think about how I'm talking, unless I'm standing in front of an audience playing a character (yes, I'm also an actor).

    My writing voice is closer to acting.  It's talking with pretend spontaneity.  Obviously, as an actor, I'm taking on a character and using technique to speak lines already in my head.  It's talking without having to think much about what I'm saying, but I'm having to concentrate on how I feel about what I'm saying, while listening to what the other actor is saying.  (It's a lot for an actor to do.  That's why actors shouldn't act and chew gum.  And I never chew when I write, either.)

    I'm not saying that writing doesn't take a lot of thinking before "speaking," because obviously it does.  I'm talking about when you begin writing something.  That "right-out-of-the-gate" writing where I'm actually feeling something--a point of view, a character's pain--and I'm searching for the right voice. 

    Acting is rehearsing.  There's no such thing as a bad rehearsal.  They're supposed to be bad.  They get better--hopefully by opening night--but for weeks, I don't know the lines, the blocking, the business.  I'm putting it all together, finding my voice--my character.

    Writing is re-writing. And for writers there is no such thing as a bad first draft.  That's why it's a first draft.  It's your voice struggling to find the story, the rhythm, and maybe even an audience.  

    Writing plays is like conducting a choir while having multiple personalities.  But it has sharpened my ear to how something is said by a real person...or an unreal person.  Plays are dialogue.  Two or more people talking.  And they have to sound different, while making sense in driving the action.  So I have to "conduct" their voice with idiosyncrasy, tempo, volume, and a host of other things that would make this metaphor much longer than it is. 

    So how do I find my voice?  

   I have passion for the story, the idea, the character.  I try entertaining always; writing is entertainment, no matter how serious the writing.  I ask myself, "Is this interesting?"  If it's not interesting to me, it won't be entertaining.  I use my viewpoint, because it colors my world...and my writing.  Whether you're a successful marketing consultant, a rich Wall Street broker or just a worker in a circumcision factory making eight bucks an hour plus tips...you have a view of your world from that perspective.  Finally, and possibly most importantly, I follow the feelings I have about a story or an idea.

    Ken Macrorie in Telling Writing wrote, "Finding the right voice will help you write better than you ever thought yourself capable of writing....There is nothing so good as feeling to control actions....If you can find the feeling that belongs to a piece of writing you want to create, then the composing may be accomplished almost without your help, and it will be true in tone, and compelling." 

    Some days when I sit down to write, I feel like I have laryngitis.  There's no voice.  But I just take a breath and speak.  It wheezes out at first, but once I get control of whatever voice I have that day, the words come.  And it's a struggle.  And I don't like how I sound.  And sometimes I'm misunderstood.  But the laryngitis passes, and the next thing I know, I'm listening to the words in my head, feeling something about what I'm hearing, what I'm writing, and it's wonderful to hear myself talk!  

    And some days, not only do I find my voice, but I can sing!