Finding Your Voice

As we entered the session room at the Evanston Writers Workshop Conference, Jennifer Stevenson asked each person to select three pictures from a pile on the table. After a brief introduction, we divided into groups of three and using the three pictures we selected as a prompt, wrote for two minutes on each. Then we exchanged our three pictures with one of the other people in our group and wrote two minutes on each of those. Finally, we switched again and wrote about the last set of three pictures. 

Each person took a turn reading aloud what they wrote for each of the nine pictures.  What we saw first hand was that even though the same pictures were used, the three each individual chose and the six the others in the group chose, each person approached the task with a different story, a different style, a different VOICE. Voice is defined as the distinctive tone or style of a literary work or author. We also saw that each individual’s voice was the same for the entire set of nine pictures. 

The activity helped us understand that VOICE is something that each writer already has and what needs be done is to recognize, listen to, and respect that voice within you. No two authors have the same voice. The final activity in the session, after hearing each other’s stories, was to write a back cover blurb that might be on a book published by that person. Pat Anderson wrote one for me that during such a brief encounter, surprisingly captured my voice very accurately. Thank you Pat.

“WITH SOFT HUMOR AND GENTLE WONDER, MICHAEL GENEROUSLY SHARES HIS REFLECTIONS ON COMPASSION AND CONNECTION. WHAT HE HAS LEARNED WILL RESONATE IN YOUR HEART AND MIND.”

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Evanston Writers Workshop