Voices versus style and what are you? Where are we strong, weak and how can we improve?

[Thomas Winslow]

I have been pondering my writing ' voices" and "style". some here can blend imagery that evokes taste,touch feel etc. that gives us appreciation of moments taken for granted.

Others can share an experience that we may never get a chance to try wih an accuracy that put us in their head in the moment.

then there is me .. what the hell kind of writer am I ? reviewing my blog the best description I can come up with is a "concept " writer . I seem to enjoy pulling offbeat possibilities together or skewing the readers perspective .

I seem to either have no voice or more than a schitzophrenic depending on how I look at it .

on the strong side i seem an adequate tale teller who tosses enough humor out to offset darker pieces.

on the weak side dialogue, punctuation,grammar and an inability to do effective mood pieces or leave an ending of possibilties for the reader to judge. Not being a pro artist of any kind i doubt i could ever produce a "real story " and develop something folks would read .

I feel the process of reading and commenting here has improved all my weak areas. so I need to comment more and read more here to improve.

 

do you agree with my self assesment? Did I forget something I should improve?before answering do one on yourself. try to be honest and maybe we can all help each othr a bit. 

[Kristine_ES]

" i doubt i could ever produce a "real story " and develop something folks would read ." I take exception to that statement. ;) I read all your posts and I don't see why others outside of the web wouldn't want to read them as well.

What other reason do we write and post here other than "Hey, I wanna show you something." The voice depends on whether you want to make your reader smile, laugh out loud, cringe, or philosophize. You pick words and dialogue that will become the voice of that story. Style...that's a toughie. Comes with practice?

Grammar, punctuation, and tense are also my demons. Didn't someone here recently say that's what a (book) editor is for? In some ways I agree, your work will be edited after you write it, but it doesn't hurt to improve your skills so you can feel confident in your keystrokes. To supplement my medical transcription training, I picked up a copy of Grammar For Dummies and the Chicago Manual of Style. Maybe that second one was overkill, but I've always wanted a copy--nevermind!

The best practice is writing and that's part of what we do here, as well as sharing "stuff." Perhaps right now you're trying to figure out if you want short fiction for a magazine or The Novel? You have no shortage of good/interesting/thoughtful ideas, so I guess you need to narrow down your audience and then work on a certain voice and style?

Not sure if this was helpful... just my 10 cents.

[jkdavies]

a question that is vexing me at the moment too!
I think it can be the hardest thing in the world to see yourself through another's eyes, matched only by a willingness to tell others what things are like through your own eyes. I would agree that imagination and ideas are one of your strong points.

As for me, I find that 6S is a great medium for the offbeat/skewed perspective - and it allows a person to practice different voices if they so choose. Despite my schizophrenic dual blog status, I think I have a style that is generally consistent, a dry detached tone, some descriptive sledgehammers to place a person in the right surroundings, and occasionally a twist that works. And, as I often write a piece for one blog only to post it on the other, I guess there is sometimes separation for separation's sake.