Several months ago, this crossed my desk at work – https://pages.18f.gov/content-guide/voice-and-tone/
It’s a style guide – a really nicely done one – with one particular page on defining one’s organizational ‘voice’.
But it got me thinking. What is my personal voice?
Our voice is our unique personality. Just as you can identify your best friend in a crowd as soon as you hear her distinctive laugh, you can use a person’s voice to identify a piece of writing even if you haven’t seen the byline. A well-crafted voice communicates personality and values — it’s a distilled representation of an author.
It seemed like it would be a good exercise – a psychology profile, more than anything – to try to define my own voice.
And I’m kinda stuck.
I want to come up with 5 terms. It seems like a good number for some reason.
I’ve come up with two that I’m happy with. I think that my voice is calm and articulate.
My possible other 3 are: clear, approachable, and .. well, I don’t have a 5th term that I like.
I wonder if ‘clear’ is quite appropriate – sometimes I think my writing, particularly that ‘articulate’ part (read: uses big words), obscures more than it clarifies.
I want to say something like ‘approachable’, possibly because that’s what I want my voice to be rather than what I think it really is. But do I want to aim for approachable? Or should I say friendly, or wry, or witty?
And surely there’s some 5th quality that can be named. I can think of plenty, but none seems quite right.
Oh, and I’m trying to keep this very positive. I can think of plenty negative terms (cold. impersonal. didactic. formal. aloof.) but I’m trying really, really, REALLY hard to be nice to myself in this exercise.
and I’m seriously over thinking this, but I would really like to define my personal voice and .. I don’t know. Understand myself better. Present a more coherent, consistent face to the world. Have a framework for crafting clear, articulate emails. Have a set of words describing myself that make me think positively about how I communicate. et cetera.
Input would be quite welcome. Would give me some perspective – something outside of my own head to ponder and react to.
Everyone else’s thoughts?
Your dad suggested passive which I thought was insightful, and
interesting because, in writing, there is a passive voice
My first reactions were calming, restful, soothing, inviting, affectionate, sympathetic, empathetic, accepting.
When I hear your voice in my minds ear, I hear undercurrents of humor, not like a joke, but like you observe life and see its amusing side. I don’t know how you would put that into a word.
Interesting question. I am not thinking about my voice. What do you hear in my voice?
PS… Add Patient. You always sound patient.