Many Voices, One Writer

Last night I was writing new material for the magazine, and then immediately switched to continuing work on the follow-up to Dead Thing, and struggled at first. It’s sometimes a little difficult to switch between the voices I need to use in my work. Music journalism and fiction require two very different disciplines, but they also draw from the same pool of experience. The trick is to use your own unique style in each circumstance.

On top of the book I just put out, I’ve recently written a TV script which I’ve submitted for consideration, and again this was a different discipline to use when trying to get a point across. These different endeavours all require the same attention to detail and quality, but they also need very different motivations to one another.

The thing is, all of these different endeavours make me a better writer the more that I do them. So no matter how many voices you end up using in the many varieties of work that come your way, they all stem from the same writer. You can apply your style to any format, but make sure that you do not allow that style to get in the way of the plot, the information or the emotion of a piece.

The content is the important matter, not so much your style. Of course, the style and the way it is presented is hugely important, but without strong content, all you have is some very pretty words that don’t mean a whole lot.

And so with many voices from one writer, we go on to the next project, and the next, and the next, all with the same drive and the same enthusiasm for producing something of quality that people will not just want to read, but remember long after they have reached the final sentence.

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