Writing Voice: The Complete Guide to Creating a Presence on the Page and Engaging Readers

by The Writer's Digest, Reed Farrel Coleman (Foreword)

Develop a voice that captures readers' attention!

All writers bring a unique set of skills to their One author might write outstanding characters, while another might dazzle with dialogue. You don't have to master every aspect of the craft in order to succeed, but the one quality required of every writer is a compelling, original voice. Your voice, which is often difficult to define and even more difficult to master, can transform your writing from pedestrian to powerful.

In Writing Voice, you'll discover effective instruction and advice from best-selling authors and instructors like Donal Maass, Adair Lara, Paula Munier, Dinty W. Moore, James Scott Bell, and many others, plus exercises, techniques, and examples for making your prose stand out, be it fiction or memoir. You'll learn how

Explore the unique way you write
Study the distinctive styles of other writers to create your own voice
Understand the nuances of voice, including the importance of word choice
Develop the right voice for your genre
Craft excellent narration that will keep readers coming back
Choose the proper voice for your nonfiction
Constructing the voice that fits your style and your audience is paramount to crafting memorable, original work. Writing Voice gives you the tools to not only create that voice but perfect it.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Crafts, Adult

306 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Kris (My Novelesque Life) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4 STARS
2017; Writer's Digest Books/F+W Media, Inc
(Review Not on Blog)

I have read Writer's Digest off and on over the years. I have always liked the inspiration behind the articles so I was happy to be reviewing this book. It is a hard one to rate as it is hard to read through. It is one that I will be going back to as I write.

***I received an eARC from EDELWEISS***

[Deb V · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's a conglomeration of writers telling others how to find their voice. It is not cohesive, one chapter states "don't imitate your favorite author" another chapter follows up with "imitate your favorite author". It is not a work that was collaborated by the contributors at all to give the reader a systematic approach or flow to the book on finding their voice in writing. At best it's snippets of author's opinions on voice and as expected everyone has a different opinion. Painful read!!!

[Shane Findlay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shake off the rust and polish up...

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is difficult to rate because it's actually a series of essays from various writers, agents, and editors. Some had great advice, while others were mediocre, including some essays that contradicted other essays. Overall though, I found some nuggets of inspiration for developing voice and enjoyed it.

[Mikko Tolonen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book that changed my writing

This book is a compilation of different voices that don’t always agree on everything, but every article has something interesting to say. A perspective that feels fresh after the previous one. I love examples, but more than that each writer has their own voice in the body of each article.

Out of the thirty articles I would say half a dozen really spoke to me in a way that was instantly transformative to my way of thinking. Very direct instructions and tools to create and hone a writing voice. Another fifteen, or so, gave more depth with associated exercises.

The book has a lot of general writing advice to go along with the main topic of the book. This is one of those there’s-a-bit-something-for-everyone -books. One of the better craft books I have read.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the writer, this very readable book is packed with good exercises and advice. Of course, instruction on a topic as personal as writing voice includes commentary on personal style and confidence. Other topics explored include Dialogue, Point of View and Tone, with applications in both Fiction and Non-Fiction. Each of the chapters, penned by various editors, writers, teachers, and agents, includes clear technical instruction, as well as illustrations from master writers. The instruction covers various categories of Genre, Mainstream, and Literary, as used by the publishing world. I read it through once, and now plan to go back to complete some of the writing-improvement exercises suggested by professionals.

[Christopher Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subtitle: The Complete Guide to Creating a Presence on the Page & Engaging Readers

I came across this book on our library’s website and decided to give it a try. It’s basically 2-3 dozen short articles about developing your voice as a writer.


I found helpful bits of information in most of the articles, some helpful than others, so I figure it was a worthwhile read. Since voice is a very nebulous concept, anything concrete that authors can do to develop and improve their voice is a big help.

I gave Writing Voice four stars on Goodreads. If you aren’t a writer, you’re probably going to want to give it a pass, but if you do write you might want to check it out.

[Patrick Connolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book for the second time. It's definitely more monograph and reference than textbook. The chapters do not flow from one topic to the next, but the sections do. It's a cornucopia of advice on writing voice rather than a self consistent body of knowledge. Some of the chapters conflict, but that's OK. Take from the book what you need. It validated some things I'm doing, and made me ask questions about other things. For me, it's a useful reference.

[Lenny Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a 5-star read for me. I recommend this to anyone who is looking to be a writer and struggling to find their voice. Each chapter is written by different authors who provide different techniques and advice when it comes to writing voice. There are a number of writing exercises provided as well.

[Cheryl Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with most Writer's Digest books this one consists of a number of essays by different authors. Several provided great detail on what author voice is and how to improve it. As with most anthologies the quality across authors varied. Some of the submissions were not relevant to my interests such as those on non-fiction writing.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Currently on p106. This book is likely to be returned to the library before I finish the book. It is a collection of short stories covering the writing voice. The collection of stories serves to illustrate the various ways in which a writer may demonstrate their own voice.

[Brigitte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple of the chapters were too repetitive, but, overall, this collection of essays had a number of excellent points about how to develop and improve your writing voice with a slew of useful exercises.

[Britney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a good bit out of this one! There were a few chapters that I didn't click with because the focus was on non-fiction writing. I also ran into contradicting points from the contributing authors, but overall there are good tips and ideas.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book about voice, it's awful disjointed since there are so many voices. Some great information in there, though.

[Lauren Danhof · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic collection of essays on voice. Not all of them are particularly in-depth, but it's enough to get you motivated and writing!

[Louis Swagboy Galore · Rating 5 out of 5]

not bad says the same thing like 20 times in a row but in different ways and that's how you internalize things

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for class. Nothing more to say really