Can you help me understand?

I would rather research what the market wants, first.


Write what you like, tweak to fit the current market


Better yet, know the market before you write.

PS and sometimes just write the book the market doesn't know it wants yet

Character ctr voice is not at all the same thing as the voice most talk about. Character voice should be different not only with each and every story, but with each POV character within a story. It simply has nothing at all to do with the kind of voice linked with style. It's the writer's voice that matters, and this comes through regardless of character's voice, at least in good stories.

How you put the words together has nothing whatsoever to do with your voice as a writer. How you put the words together is pure, one hundred percent style. Voice is what you have to say, and style is how you say it.

Character voice is not more than the way a given character speaks and thinks, and really has nothing to do with it.

Maze Runner said:

Screenscope, I think you're right. But what of market considerations, for those of us who aren't (yet) established? It's really the only reason I'm thinking about this because I trust myself to be able to find the right voice for any story I happen to be writing, and to write within that world.

But writers like other artists, whether we like it or not, are commodities, right? And even more than that, we just want to be read. It's a real kind of you is or you ain't. I'm sure there are people on here who are feeling down because their last book only sold 10,000 copies, but some of us would give a lot to be read by that many people. This is just about considerations that maybe we should have beforehand to try and make that happen. Am i nuts?

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You are not nuts!

The problem is that if your writing style and voice are influenced by the perceived requirements of your intended market, you can lose your own voice and 'water down' your writing.

By all means target a market, but write for yourself. Your writing will be better and, in my opinion, you will attract more readers. People who read a particular genre might like the same kinds of stories, but they want to read fresh writing. I don't believe it will be fresh if you try to tailor your writing to a style that is not natural to you.

It took a lot of years for me to get published and I lost count of all the times publishers told me on one wants to read my story. But I loved it, I loved the way I wrote it and, because I have general reading tastes, I was absolutely convinced others would enjoy it, too. I finally found a publisher who agreed and the response has been great, better even than I'd hoped.

Every writer has to find their own way through this minefield and it's not easy.

I don't know if I'm right - it's just a gut feel and I'm hardly established - but I hope this provides food for thought.

Jamesaritchie said:

Voice is what you have to say, and style is how you say it.

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Interesting distinction. So when I read, "I'm looking for a new voice," on an agent's website, what does this mean to you, James?

Please elaborate....Thanks

I really don't want to care about this stuff. I just want to write a good story, communicated clearly and richly to the reader. If I happen to do that in a recognizably similar way across different books, in my mind that's neither good nor bad.

Some of the best actors are the ones where you say, "Whoah, that was that guy? He was so different from when he played in that other thing." Some of the best-paid actors, on the other hand, have consistent, unmistakeable styles. Maybe it's true of writers too.

Roxxsmom said:

Confusing things further is the issue of authorial versus character voice. I've run into two very different views there. One is that character voice should be limited to dialog, and it's vital for an author to develop their distinctive voice, which will be their stamp or personality that permeates the narrative (non dialog) all their books.

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I find that individual stories have voices of their own: so, it becomes a precarious balancing act, trying to fit all the character voices, the story’s voice, and my personal voice into a single narrative form. But then that’s what makes this all so fun.

Maze Runner said:

I don't think I really understand the difference between voice and style. Is there a difference? Also, does it adapt to the story you're telling? I once read where Norman Mailer said that the best writers are the ones whose voice (style?) changes with every book, is this true? And if it is, then why are certain styles associated with certain writers? Is it because it is the type of story they typically write, and so it's become more of a question of market demands?

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Style is the manner in which something in written. The prose can be formal, conversational, or full of slang. It can be florid or spare. Cynical or earnest. Lyrical or plain vanilla.

The author's voice and the author's style are closely connected, although an author can use different styles for different books. POV is also a factor. An omniscient POV novel will be written in one voice. A multi-POV novel will be written in multiple voices, but the overall style and authorial voice will give it unity.

If you had to break them apart, I'd say style has more to do with the prose, and voice with the attitude behind the prose.

Bottom line, as Voltaire once said, "Every style that is not boring is a good one."

guttersquid said:

In my opinion, you're wasting time worrying about something that really doesn't matter. If you're concerned with expanding your readership, then your time would be better spent researching how to market a self-published novel.

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I beg to differ: first make the book the best it can be, then the marketing and stuff.

Too many people outline the story, then concentrate on the marketing, then either never finish it, or just slap it together any which way.

Gringa said:

Interesting distinction. So when I read, "I'm looking for a new voice," on an agent's website, what does this mean to you, James?

Please elaborate....Thanks

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James is probably busy writing more novels for his publisher, I, however, am procrastinating, so here I go: by using the above definition, the agent means: "I would be overjoyed, if not only your sentences do not collapse and your plot makes sense, but it you actually have something to say in your book, and if you don't, at least that you present the usual banalities in a way which I do not see fifty times a day."

I can't get my head around voice vs style either. It feels like one of those Venn diagrams of overlapping circles. There is one circle called voice and one called style and when they overlap we get a region that is both voice and style.

And I'm still struggling to come up with a definition that works for me.

For me, it's all about how the author tells a story. The author might change his style/voice for each particular story, but they would generally have a distinctive way of talking that would be the same across everything they wrote.

A fr'instance. Many moons ago when I was at school the English teacher gave us a poem to read. He didn't tell us who had written it. He asked for our opinions. And within a few lines I had worked out that it was written by Philip Larkin. I hadn't read the poem before, but it was just his style. In my imagination, I could almost hear him reading it out loud. It was in his voice. Or maybe it was his style?

The challenge with a voice/ style is finding one that is both true to yourself and appeals to an audience. That is sufficiently close to other authors, so that we are comforted and can understand it, and yet sufficiently different and interesting that it feels new. Most of all, we need a voice that people want to listen to.

I am not so sure whether it is voice or style or some other word. It just needs to be a voice that I want to listen to.

Once! said:

I can't get my head around voice vs style either. It feels like one of those Venn diagrams of overlapping circles. There is one circle called voice and one called style and when they overlap we get a region that is both voice and style.

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Good analogy. I don't think the two can be fully separated, they both work together.

Here's my take

Voice:

Let's say you're in a museum. Can you spot a Picasso from across the room? Probably. Do you need to look for his signature? Probably not.

Style:

Abstract, Cubism, Expressionism, whatever ism....

dondomat said:

James is probably busy writing more novels for his publisher, I, however, am procrastinating, so here I go: by using the above definition, the agent means: "I would be overjoyed, if not only your sentences do not collapse and your plot makes sense, but it you actually have something to say in your book, and if you don't, at least that you present the usual banalities in a way which I do not see fifty times a day."

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Basic bottom line....

thanks Dondomat

guttersquid said:

In my opinion, you're wasting time worrying about something that really doesn't matter. If you're concerned with expanding your readership, then your time would be better spent researching how to market a self-published novel.

Click to expand...

dondomat said:

I beg to differ: first make the book the best it can be, then the marketing and stuff.

Too many people outline the story, then concentrate on the marketing, then either never finish it, or just slap it together any which way.

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What exactly are you differing with? My comment had nothing to do with writing the story.

The OP expressed the notion that his ability to increase his readership is dependent on knowing the difference between voice and style. My point was that knowing the difference between voice and style is not important, and if the OP's goal is to expand his readership, then his time would be better spent researching marketing techniques.

I know others have answered just as well as I can, but this question buzzed around in my head half the night so I'm gonna chime in anyway.

I think the easiest way to understand the difference between style and voice is via a comparison to music. Style is comprised of the chord progressions, themes, vocal production techniques, instruments of choice, etc. of each different type of music. You can listen to a song you've never heard before and know immediately what style it is (jazz, rock, classical, showtunes, rap, TV jingles, yodeling, etc).

In writing, style is similarly associated with different genres. A newspaper article does not sound like a fairy tale does not sound like a romance novel does not sound like Shakespeare.

Voice in music is often a literal voice. The Beatles and Nirvana are both rock groups, but it'd be hard to confuse the two. You'd never mistake Dolly Parton for Johnny Cash or vice-versa, even if they are both country singers. Voice is what makes you, you.

You know the neatest part of that? It just happens. You don't have to consciously create a voice. You "discover" your writing voice over time, just as a child may sing for years, but has to wait until maturity to find out whether she'll end up a soprano or alto (tenor or bass for the boys), whether you'll have the smooth sound of Frank Sinatra or the gravelly earthiness of Louis Armstrong.

Do you write long, flowery descriptions or short blunt phrases? Do you tend to write lots of dialogue or are you heavy on the action sequences? Do you write with a thesaurus by your side or stick to a simpler vocabulary? The answer to these and countless other similar questions comprise your voice. Your voice, in turn, will lend itself to styles/genres that best showcase those characteristics. As a singer, I have a very high light voice. I'd make a dandy Disney princess. Conversly, I've come to accept that I'll never be able to "rock," no matter how much I wish I could.

Mr Flibble said:

I would rather research what the market wants, first.


Write what you like, tweak to fit the current market


Better yet, know the market before you write.

PS and sometimes just write the book the market doesn't know it wants yet

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True.

If I had to boil it down to their simplest definitions, I'd say:

voice = word choice
style = how you string those words together