VOICE
It’s not just what people hear when you speak.
Mrs. Donohue
English 8
What is Voice?
 Your
writing style
 Your personality
 What makes the
writing come alive for
a reader
 A form of creative
expression
Let’s Practice



By using our
physical voice
As a class, we will
try this together.
One person will
say, “I want to
go.” Say it while
trying to
communicate a
specific emotion.

Think not just
about how you
use your voice
and inflection, but
also how you use
your body
language.
As humans. . .


We have a lot of experience using our
physical selves to express what we mean
and what we want to say, and we
practice constantly with how to engage
our audience.
It is harder to do that in writing. It just is.
However, it is essential if we ever want to
be considered good writers (and we all
do).
Let’s look at a written example.
On July 18, 1998, the best thing to ever
happen to humanity occurred. John Jacob Smith
was born.
It all began in Pensacola Naval Hospital,
where John was brought into this world. Despite
the fact that some (namely his older sister) said he
looked like a “fat, egg shaped, rotisserie chicken”,
he was destined for greatness.
However, this great individual’s life was
paved with hardships. At the early age of 1, John
moved from the beauty of Pensacola, to the drab
landscape of Beale AFB.
Here’s the “opposite.”
Mary Elizabeth Howard was born on May
2, 1998. Her parents were excited to have her.
She had a cute face. People said.
She had a brother and a sister. They were
older. She liked cereal the most when she was
growing up. She also liked fruit. Her favorite
was pears.
She once fell down off a slide and broke
her arm. Her parents were scared. She cried a
lot. She had to wear a cast for 6 weeks.
What is the difference between
the two?


One should reach
out and grab you
and make you want
to keep reading.
The other isn’t
necessarily boring,
but it’s writing you
won’t remember.
We want to create
writing that others
will remember.
Otherwise, what is
the point?
So, what can we do to create
voice?
 Sentence
variety
 Short,
simple sentences
 Parenthetical asides
 Parallel sentence structure
 Using ellipses (…) and dashes (--) to
communicate meaning
 Sentence
beginnings
 Details (using all 5 senses) (think STEAL)
 Giving reactions and emotions
Examples



Michael rolled his eyes. “No, just. . .
Listen.” He couldn't blame them for having
doubts, but he was starting to get frustrated
that he couldn’t get his story out (The Eye of
Minds, 37).
Michael and his friends—floating, frozen,
silent—waited (The Eye of Minds, 40).
“N-no. I don’t know. I feel lightheaded,
but not—” She stopped herself (Cinder, 55).
Examples Continued



She was on the other side of the kitchen counter from
him, and grabbed onto the edge for support. She
didn’t want to tell him. She couldn’t.
She had to (Blackout, 67).
Wham! The ball came screaming in at light speed,
hitting him full in the face (The Hypnotists, 167).
At the end of the hallway, a huge book, bigger than a
dictionary, contained the names of the 103,000 dead
from the Netherlands in the Holocaust (Only 5,000 of the
deported Dutch Jews, a wall label explained, had
survived. 5,000 Otto Franks.) (The Fault in our Stars, 201).
Examples continued

Finally, I stood at the far end of the hall and
stared at the door to the only room I hadn’t
checked yet: Jonathan’s office.
I should really, really go back to bed.
But as I hesitated. . .
Drip (Famous Last Words, 61).
A flash of light flickered in my peripheral vision.
An empty ache grew in the pit of my stomach.
I could feel the walls closing in on me. I had
to get out of the house (Famous Last Words, 39).

There’s more!
 Adding
dialogue that:
 Adds
to the characters
 Adds to the plot
 Moves the story along
 Direct
/ indirect characterization
 Flashbacks
 Developing real characters
 Try modeling after a writer that you like /
enjoy
 But in the end, remember that YOUR voice is
YOUR voice and it needs to feel real to you.