But just what is “voice”? The term can be maddeningly elastic, covering a multitude of techniques. “Voice” is so slippery that when I was a callow reporter I dismissed it entirely, figuring it was another one of those empty abstractions that English-lit professors threw around to flaunt their erudition. Now I know better, but I still find it hard to define “voice” with one quick pass over the keyboard. The best all-encompassing definition I’ve managed to come up with is that voice is the personality of the writer as it emerges on the page.
