Friday, September 12, 2008

Developing A Voice or Personal Style

Developing A Voice or Personal Style

I have been criticized for not having a strong personal style or voice in my writing. I think writing in a way must be like stage acting, where you develop a specific style to hold your audiences attention.

While I have found many books on grammar and structure in writing, I have found very little about how to get and hold peoples attention in writing. In other words, I am looking for books and material on creating a strong individual voice or style while writing.

This seems to be a theme which I get criticized for. I have even started a discussion on Blogcatalog covering this particular issue.
http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/developing-a-voice-or-personal-style

I do not think even the best writing manuals like The Elements Style or On Writing Well cover this very well.

The central question is what holds peoples attention and why? This must effect how successful most writers are.

Just be yourself is really not enough to answer this question. I am myself and there is no other like me. What aspect of myself attracts other people to my writing?

This is the first time I have really asked this question. When I went to my libraries catalog, I found books on the subject, but I did not find a single one at our library. I requested a few to look at. It might be something which I should consider ordering for our branch.

Do you know any really good books or websites on this subject?

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