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@taylorclogston

Yeah! So, I mentioned a few things about the definition of voice in that it’s the objective tools subjectively applied. Now, you’re right… it might seem a bit off topic, and for that I apologize. ‘Tis not my goal. I merely enjoy working with direct application when dealing with concepts like this… because it tends to help me tie something together. Only, I tend to work from a visionary perspective, so allow me to rephrase more concretely.

I believe voice is an essential part of what creative or artistic license means. This means we have the tools we need, and then produce with those tools part of our soul (as Daeus mentioned). And if we can define what those tools are (the objective, that you spoke of) we can then learn how to form the art (or subjective as DeepRun mentioned). That being said… though it is subjective… because we are using objective tools it is something others can help us strengthen.

When I write… I pull my voice a few different places. I like to use third person… because I tend to write from the world to the character. Where my character is either derived from the world, and thus reflects its attributes, or is placed in a conflicting world, thus contrasting its attributes. But either way, I tend to write the story from the world to the character.

This is how I relate with the world, myself. So, a lot of my stories use action a lot. Action is something I’ve worked on for a long time.

A second part of my voice has to do with making the world sound like it has a voice itself. I want the story I’m telling to be told by the way the world or setting responds to things… and in so, the character doing the same.

And third, as Daeus mentioned, I have the signature of the heart I’m writing from. And I write that through the world and character, as the thread that holds it all together.

As I work all of these things… my goal is to study the flow of language, its colors and sounds. One of my favorite quotes is by Ursula LeGuin: The chief duty of a narrative sentence is to lead to the next sentence—to keep the story going. Forward movement, pace, and rhythm are words that are going to return often in this book. Pace and movement depend above all on rhythm, and the primary way you feel and control the rhythm of your prose is by hearing it—by listening to it.

I adopt this style (as much as possible), as well as looking at extremely vivid descriptors like N.D. Wilson and (finally) Markus Zusak.

I look at the rhythm in my writing through action, through that description, through the world that is sewn together by the heart of my writing, and reflects my characters. And right now, what I’m working on the most… is giving the characters depth in that flow of voice.

So, what I see is that as we strengthen the mechanics of style, syntax, and then description… and even dialogue, we’ll be able to write and work with setting our heart into the mix, and building a voice that speaks to people… a voice that seems alive

In Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov… his voice is a continuous and layering flow that, if relaxed into, will carry the reader into the depth of his characters… and make them living voices. N.D. Wilson makes his worlds alive, by taking their concrete natures and building into them more concrete images that describe in vivid color (to the characters’ minds)… through the world. Markus Zusak lets the narrator of his story go. And it’s beautiful. He gives the voice of the story free reign to study the world, and connect dots. To find beauty and make the strangest connections… but that make so much sense. The voice takes the beautiful constructs of language, and pulls them together in flashes of imagery that don’t let us forget what we’re actually looking at, but only make it more vivid… in sadness, humor, and a wish to bring peace.

Is that more what you were looking for? That’s my study of voice. Some writers handle it differently… but all of them work from a basis of how they want to portray… with an objective tool of communication. Orson Scott card uses a deceptively simple prose to leave no space between the reader and character’s mind. And if a writer comes to us looking for help with voice… I’d say it starts with understanding the language… even if not by orthodox training… and learning to apply your heart through it.