*Using Voice*

Voice is what separates good authors and great authors. More so than simply seeing who’s storytelling abilities are better, voice creates a sense of personality that the writing itself can exude and portray. Voice is what makes an author seem relatable and personable, instead of a cold narrative James Earl Jones-like voice we can capture the distinguishing characteristics of the author and feel the words that they are saying, rather than just listening to the words and going through the motions.

There is a blogsite, earmilk, that is similar to my blog in that it is also an music blog (covers all genres) but rather than just post new music the blogger is able to capture the audience better by talking to them instead of just writing and informing. The author was promoting his website’s Suicide Sundaes where he posts extra hard electronic music. Here is a sample of his writing:

A time when bangers were big, remixes were bigger, the bassline bled, and we didn’t care about anything as long as came in kicking and left screaming. To hell with sketchy sunday, we want to shove another dragon down the hole.

The author does several things in this quote to add voice to his writing. I thought the personification of the bass line was stylish and the quote just oozes a mantra of “fight for our right to party” and not caring much about anything else besides raging as hard as possible. The phrase at the end, “we want to shove another dragon down the hole” perfectly captures the idea of wanting ear-splitting bas and pulse-pounding rhythms by comparing taming a wild dragon to listening to some new hard electro-music.

We’re going to melt you faces off with enough mashed up music to make you wanna slap yo’ mama.

Here the author’s use of slang and colloquialisms conveys his voice as he describes the type of intense music and sounds the listener/reader is about the experience.

We will try to bring you one “chill” track every day. This is for when you get home and you are trying to unwind. You reach for that glass of wine or that unlit Black & Mild or maybe you reach for something more herbal. This track is for those times. We will try to bring you at least one a day. We are just your milkmen and I’m here to make a delivery. Chill…..

In this quote the author’s description of a “chill” or relaxing is what really portrays his personality and voice. For him, a relaxing night is having a glass of wine and enjoying a smoke, while for others it could be reading a book or spending time with family. His youthfulness is felt through this description because his methods of relaxation are the ones used by younger people. Also more of his voice is used when he describes himself as a “milkman”, one who delivers something good on a regular basis, to further fortify the idea that his blog is bringing quality material for his audience.

The author is able to use a variety of mechanisms to portray his voice; personification, personal anecdotes, vocabulary, use of slang and colloquialisms and word choice. The author portrays his voice as one having a good time, witty and urban-cultured, all things you would expect from your neighborhood hip music blogger.