The Poetry and Music of Voice
The Poetry and Music of Voice by Teresa Reasor The voice of fiction sings to the reader as clearly as any vocalist who croons a melody. But just as a choir is made up of a variety of strong and pure, or thin and reedy voices, so are the voices that speak through the written word. Voice speaks through the devices of plot, character, dialogue, description, tone, style, pacing, and theme. But how? Wanting to strengthen my own voice, I decided to find out. I chose three writers who have distinctive, strong voices: Joanne Rock, Catherine Mann, and JoAnn Ross. All three are contemporary writers. All three have voices that sing on the page. In her rereleased September 2010, Harlequine, Blaze, Sex and the Single Girl, Joanne Rock’s turns of phrase jump off the page with an energy that’s natural and inherently part of her voice. Every sentence is constructed to convey a story within a story. Real life collided with ...