Into the Fire

Stop and think about why your favorite authors are your favorites. Isn’t it the way they elect to tell a story? If they’re prolific authors with many novels, there are bound to be a couple you might not like as well as others, but did those stop you from looking forward to their next books? Unlikely.

Favorites don’t become that way without achieving involvement in your psyche. They appeal to your sense of humor, your sense of drama, your recognition of and appreciation for great dialogue, your attraction to intense action or thrills and chills, your reaction to the characters. You invest emotion of some kind in the story, and in whatever way they are able to do it: you like or “get” or identify with the way they tell the story—which is their voice.

All kinds of publishing professionals have discussed “voice”. They’ve done their best to describe it, to give examples of it, to define it in terms so it attempts to make sense to those who seem not to understand. Whichever one of them said this—and I apologize for not remembering who it was or if it was just one of them—“It’s what makes you who you are as a writer. To the point that when readers read your words, they can know who it is that’s writing them.” Or something like that.

We all know writers whose voices are . . . well, not memorable. Ill-defined. And then there are our favorites. We look for their new releases. And we come to expect their particular kind of writing from them. Even if they take on a somewhat different genre, we expect to hear them when we buy their books.

I could list several authors whose voices I absolutely love. I look or wait for their novels to hit the shelves because the chances of me being disappointed by their work are slim and none. Granted, my favorites have written stories I didn’t particularly like, and to a degree I wasn’t ecstatic over a book here and there, but I still appreciate their voices. And I will buy their next one simply because I trust their writing styles.

Let me list a few authors who have a distinctive voice and writing style.

Frank Peretti
Susan Meissner
Claudia Mair Burney
Dr. Harry Kraus
Don Brown
Kristen Heitzmann
John Robinson
Tosca Lee
Athol Dickson

There are many more wonderful authors with their own unique storytelling abilities, but these few examples of fiction writers establish an identifiable voice and style. Voice sometimes dictates style, but style differs in its forms and explanations and often pertains to the genre.

If you write creatively long enough, your voice will be expressed. You can’t muzzle it. You can attempt to copy a voice you admire, but sooner or later you won’t be able to sustain the effort and you’ll find your own voice will not be denied.

Father, for all of your writers who are just beginning to discover their writing voices, I pray you would help them to maintain their authenticity. Help them to realize that you have given them their gifts and talents and you intend to take them on the journey you have ordained just for them. Help us all to remain faithful, humble, and obedient even in our writing struggles. We’re desperate for you and apart from you we can do nothing. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.