Many Voices

I’ve just written and filed 10,000 words, but before I write the next 1,500, I need to shift space in my head. The last 10,000 were written for academic purposes; the next 1,500 are to be written for one of those ‘listy’ articles you often find in women’s magazines.

In the course of my career as a writer, I’ve written for stage, screen, publication (including advertising and PR), and academia. I’ve written for children, for teenagers, and for adults in a wide variety of genres and tones. Years ago, when I first started entertaining the notion that I might, possibly, be able to make some money from writing, I was told I needed to choose a genre and find my ‘voice’.

The inference was that I could only possibly be good at one type of writing, and that I needed to find my voice within that genre.

Soon enough, I found out that wasn’t quite true. I know it’s important to find your voice – but as writers we have many different voices. And it can be hard to keep them straight in our heads. On occasion, I’ve read a blog post and been perplexed at the academic tone; or a book on a serious topic told in the tone I’d expect from a blog post. Or I’ve read an article in a financial journal about (say) cross-border linkages in Asian stock-markets and been a bit taken aback by how it reads as though the writer thinks we’re all idiots.

Part of the reason for using different voices, then, is to deliver what the audience expects from a particular publication. It can be difficult to switch from one voice to another – especially when you’re new to writing, but there are a few things I do that make it just that bit easier.

The first thing I do before I start writing is visualise my audience – especially if I’m switching from one area of writing to another after a significant period of time. For example: If I’ve just spent a week writing in legal academic style (I am working on an LLM in International Human Rights Law at the moment, so that’s a real possibility), before I write a piece for a parenting magazine, I’ll need to ‘remind’ myself which voice I use for parenting articles.

Maybe it would work well for you to have an actual picture – either in or your head, or cut from a magazine – to remind you of who you’re ‘talking’ to. Personally, I need to hear the voice I use for different types of writing in my head. I literally have different voices in my head for each of the types of writing I do. Different voices for each of my characters, if you will.

I find what can help is to read two or three articles in the style I’m switching into, hear the voice I should be using, and then put fingers to keyboard myself. Apart from obvious things like sentence structure, language choices, and reference-style (or lack thereof), different styles of writing have different rhythms and different cadences. Suppose I was writing about education in Ireland. For an academic piece, I’d write something like this, with a reference in the footnotes giving details of the relevant legislation:

The Irish Education Act of 1998 formed the legislative framework for the provision of education at first and second levels in the Republic of Ireland. This piece of legislation places a legal onus on the government to ensure that appropriate education and support services are available to all children enrolled in schools across the country.¹

If I was writing the same thing for a parenting magazine, I’d probably say something like:

The Irish government is legally obliged to provide appropriate education for all school-going children. This includes making sure there are enough support services available.

Were I writing a script for a documentary, I’d put these words in the mouth of my voice-over/presenter:

In 1998, the Education Act became law. This Act puts the responsibility for providing children with an education firmly on the shoulders of the Irish government. It also states that children are entitled to an appropriate education – and the supports necessary to provide it.

In a piece for a television soap-opera,* I might write an exchange like this:

JO: You’re her mum – it’s your responsibility to make sure she gets an education.

ROSE: Well, that’s not strictly true.

JO: No?

ROSE: No. Not according to the Education Act. It’s the government’s responsibility to make sure she gets an education. I, however, do have to make sure she gets to school. Speaking of…she was late again this morning. The roadworks are horrendous.

As you can see, I’m essentially providing the same information, just in different ways for different audiences.

Switching voices for different types of writing is a skill – but, like many skills, it can be learnt. The value of spending some time getting proficient at this skill, however, can benefit you in very real and obvious ways: If you can demonstrate an ability to write in more than one voice, you open up a whole slew of new markets for yourself. Also, chances are that – like most writers – you get bored easily, and being able to write in a variety of styles, genres and voices will appeal to that part of you that needs change.

 

* In Singapore, I was a script-writer for a soap opera for teenagers. Sometimes, one of the government departments would let us know that they’d like a certain issue addressed in the show. We’d oblige.

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Hazel Katherine Larkin is a mother, writer and researcher. She has written for stage (including a few musicals!) screen (including a soap opera for teenagers) and a wide variety of publications – everything from parenting magazines to financial journals and academic papers.

Her book, Gullible Travels recounts the ten years she spent in Asia, married to the wrong men and desperate to become a mother. It also tells the story of how the poor life choices she made as an adult were influenced by the fact that she was sexually abused for her entire childhood and beyond. You can find her on Twitter – @hazelklarkin and on Facebook

Tags: featured, Gulliable Travels, inspiration, memoir, Voices, women writers

Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips