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My daughter has a neighbor friend that she plays with now and then. I cringe whenever the girl comes over because she has no indoor voice. She yells everything – conversations, wants, needs, hellos, good-byes – everything. While she is here, I am guaranteed to have to (gently) admonish her to please use her indoor voice. “BUT MY MOM SAYS I HAVE A BEAUTIFUL VOICE! I WAS JUST BORN LOUD!” Sheesh. Besides the obvious parenting issues (and it would take several blog posts just to cover that topic), there is the concept of appropriate voices in appropriate situations. And don’tcha know this translates into a good topic about writing.
One of the most popular posts from when I first started blogging was about finding your writer’s voice. It made a lot of sense back then and it makes a lot of sense now. These last few years have taught me a lot about using my indoor voice. For writers, using your indoor voice means using a writing voice that is appropriate for the kind of writing you’re doing.
Generally, my writing voice is conversational, informal. If you read this blog at all, you know what I mean. I translate the voice in my head into words on the screen so you’ll find things like “sheesh” and “dont’cha” and other things that look like what they sound like in my head. Unfortunately, this also means that sometimes grammar takes a back seat. I write incomplete sentences. And sometimes I’ll start a sentence with “And.” In my mind that’s all okay because that’s how it sounds in my mind. It’s my blog dang it and if my voice violates a rule or two then so be it.
With that said, I have learned when to formalize my voice. Essentially, I’ve learned when to use my indoor voice. A valuable lesson in this went something like this: The owner of a blog I write for thought it would be a good idea to write some articles for one of her client’s blogs. This blog is fairly well known and I jumped at the chance. Well, the stuff I submitted was written in my usual style. I didn’t spend nearly enough time looking at the client’s blog to get a sense of the style. Needless to say, I got word that she had to re-write all of my articles before the client would accept them. A bit embarrassed, I let her know – and she agreed – that maybe my writing style wasn’t the best fit in this instance. If I had to do it all over again, I would have spent a lot more time researching the site and I would have put more effort into figuring out my indoor voice.
These days, I pay a lot of attention to who I’m writing for. When I’m on a freelance writing site, I take a good look at the directions for the article to get a sense for what the client is like. If the directions are stuffy and formal, then usually the style they are looking for is the same. So far that strategy has worked pretty well.
The importance of this for freelance writers cannot be understated. If you only have one voice, your freelance writing career is going to be a tough one.
How many voices do you have?
Hi George.
You’ve raised a very good point! Taking the time to get a sense for the writing voice on the other site is a great way to demonstrate respect for the other writer, in addition to doing the research for yourself. I’ve never considered how many different writing voices I have. This is good to keep in mind. Thanks.
Hi Davina,
Thanks for coming by!
I love having different voices and I’ve found that as time goes on, it gets easier and easier to morph as I need to.
George
Hi George,
I love your style of writing btw.
I think the sign of a good (talented and creative) writer is the ability to have voiceS to communicate in, depending on the circumstances. I write a lot of “whatcha gonna do” stuff because in casual conversation that IS my voice. But in a room full of professionals, its not “gonna” fly.
I learned to get very specific guidelines for writing, or do research on my own to pick the voice most likely to fit in by awful trial and errors. It is a humbling education sometimes but oh well.
Happy Morphing
Susan
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Hi Susan,
Big
for this comment. I’ve been humbled as well as I’ve stumbled along the freelance highway. I’m glad I’ve made it this far and I’m sure there will be more lessons on the way!
George
Soon as I think I’ve got a handle on something, something else will pop up and make me feel dumb all over again. So I’ve taken the Buddhist vow of Beginner’s Mind. It’s so comforting in the weirdest way
Susan
I, too, love your style, George. Your blog (writing!) was a mentor text for me when I began blogging. A that time, I was deeply immersed in scholarly writing–so NOT what I was going for in a blog! In linguistic terms, it’s called “code switching,” which is a very important skill to have. We have to work on intentionally teaching it to students. Their informal registers come through in their academic writing, and they don’t see that it’s not appropriate.
Another example: even though it’s at work (formal register), if I’m writing an email to some I know really well, I’m not too hung up about catching every typo (casual/social register). When I’m sending out a district communication, I choose my words very carefully, and sometimes even ask someone else to review it, to be sure my message is clear.
From kindergarten, all the way to adulthood, knowing your audience (purpose) is critical to good writing.
This is a case when listening to the voices in your head is not an indication you’re crazy!
Linda704´s last [type] ..Weekly Web Wanderings (weekly)
Aww Linda. That is so cool. Thank you. Your examples are great and drive the point home. I do tend to be casual most of the time although I refrain from using texting text (LOL, OMG, U R so right). Shudders.
Proofing a professional email with another set of eyes is such a great idea. I can think of several times I wish I had done that before hitting the “send” button!
George
Excellent point George. Although I am not a writer, I can appreciate the need for using our inside voice in both writing and speech. Too often various groups only use their outside voice to prove, it’s far better to be thought a fool than open their mouth (or keyboard) and prove it.
In the coming year I believe the outside voices will be drowned out by the inside voices. Just imagine, if 200 million people were speaking with inside voices at the same time, You wouldn’t even hear the loud mouth outside voice.
John