Your Own Damned Voice
Supposedly, if you can understand a writer’s voice you can understand the writer. Most of the time, I’d buy that argument: especially when someone spends a lot of time, devotion, and money on a piece of self-published lit. If writing from the heart, then your real voice should come through.
What’s my voice? I, for one, love writing about twisted things. For example, I once wrote a short story called “Life Tax.”
The premise was that, in a dark future, the U.S. took over the world (without a nuke fired). Why bother taking over the world? Because the Earth’s resources were running on “E” and there were just too many humans running around consuming them. Ergo, such a conquest was vital to mankind’s survival.
Upon taking over the world, the U.S. instituted the Life Tax. Every living person had to pay ten grand to the IRS – every year – regardless of income level. If you could afford it, you lived. If you couldn’t afford to pay your taxes or have someone pay it for you, then the efficient, brutal, trigger-happy operatives of the IRS would happily kill you. It’s the ultimate tale of economic Darwinism: if you can’t cough up ten grand a year, you don’t deserve to live.
Guess what, folks? I probably shouldn’t write children’s books.
Still, it’s my voice and I love it. Sometimes, if my mood’s brighter, I can write lighter stuff with happier endings.
If someone you like/trust/respect urges you to write against your voice, don’t give in. Some folks just don’t understand. A voice might change with time and experience. It might be as sweet as honey or as vile as skunk piss. But it’s your writing voice and it should never, ever, be betrayed. To do so would be to deny who you are.
Yes, I could see a writer abandoning his/her real voice for something more lucrative (and fake). I couldn’t do it though (not even for bestseller cash). And if you’re true to your voice and passionate about your work, the money/fame will come.
Every writer’s voice is as unique as a snowflake or a strand of DNA. Figure yours out. Then figure out who you’re going to market your stuff to. Readers have voices too, even if they don’t put them down on paper. Find your kind of readers and you’ll find potential lifetime fans. I won’t try to sell “Life Tax” to Amish farmers. But I might have better luck with the local IRS branch office [insert evil laugh]. And frankly, if you write well enough, all kinds of "normal" folks might like your twisted literature . . . if it's good enough.
By the by, if you're interested in reading "Life Tax," it's in my third book ("Protected"), now available in print, e-book, and PDF.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
