"I can't be as good at being someone else as I am at being myself"

We all start and learn by trying to sound like someone whose writing we loved. But eventually we should progress:

• • "Create in a way that's so authentic to you that no one sounds like you"

  • "[James] Baldwin sounds distinctive"

  • Voice is not opinion -- but it is writing into the human story

Benefits of writing in one's own voice

1. Advance your argument: Context + Emotion are powerful tools

• Storytelling is universal and as old as time. It persists because it is powerful.

• Style [that invokes context and emotion] is not respected as much as it should be because subjectivity and emotion are seen as feminine in US culture ("for girls") and therefore disrespected versus a removed voice asserting "one single truth"

2. Cultivate an audience to hear YOU

3. "Show your work"

• The work becomes larger than the sum of its parts (this first part is Whitney editorializing) when the choice of voice/style is also communicating. For instance, a theme of Tressie M C's work communicated through her style is that, "The roots of her intelligence is Black culture." She reinforces this when she uses her distinctly Black cultural voice.

Barriers to authentic and distinctive voice

• Over-performing professionalism and expertise squashes the voice

• Many of use are taught to use an omnipotent, removed "Voice of God" in our writing -- and to read that particular style as a proxy for intelligence

• How do these barriers manifest? In defensive writing techniques like...

  • No "I" in the writing, hiding behind the passive voice

  • Over-citing, over-quoting

  • Adding lots of qualifiers to statements

  • Anticipating the audience [objections] and writing defensively

  • Stripping emotion from the writing

  • Over-relying on formal credentials to sell your argument

Claiming one's writing voice: thoughts for your own reflection

• "Take the 'expert' out of your head"

• "Do you think in your own voice? Does it sound like your people, like people you want to read you?"

• "Until you get the colonizer out of your head, it doesn't matter what you think"; it won't come through clearly

Tips/Notes/Advice on Cultivating Your Writing Voice

• The first obligation is to tell the truth: Just "write the thing!"

• Incorporating qualifiers and considering the audience's pushback/context is for EDITING (vs drafting/writing)

• Timeless work is always timely

• "No villains, no saints": Portray people honestly, as complicated and human

• Different audiences will require different scopes. You can cultivate specific audiences

• A style that Tressie uses: "Draw a larger story from a smaller story" -- BUT BEWARE OF OVER-REACHING

• RG & T MC agree: "I'm a better writer when I'm teaching."

• Incorporating cultural touchstones into your writing

  • can be a shorthand to call people into the conversation, story, argument

  • can communicate respect

  • can signal rigor

  • can orient those who are ignorant of some of the context you're drawing from

  • Can also be lazy writing, a crutch or a way to exclude readers...

  • SO BE DELIBERATE in when and why you use this technique

Exercises we did to help refine and develop your voice

• Discovering and cultivating your voice in general

  • "What do I know?" Explain your expertise without referring to credentials or professional markers of expertise

  • "How do I know what I know?"

  • "Who am I speaking to and for?"

• Refining your voice in an existing project

  • Describe your project in 1 minute or less to 2-4 other people

  • Take notes as they tell you what they've heard you say