Music and Novels: Understanding Voice

I kept thinking about music and how it ties in so easily with writing books. I’m going to tackle for the hundreth time, voice. My rule of thumb is don’t think about. It’ll be there as long as you don’t stiffle it. *which I’ve been known to do.*

Now how does voice tie into music?

Voice is as simple as hearing a song on the radio and knowing the singers identity. It goes past tone right to the infliction of words and the notes a singer holds.

Why I don’t think voice really involves tone?

You can have a light tone to a story vs. a dark tone and still voice will shine through.

Here are two examples of singers who write their own lyrics *80 percent of the time anyway*. First up is Alicia Keys *You Don’t Know My Name*:

From the day I saw you
I really really want to catch your eye
There’s something special ’bout you
I must really like you
Cause not a lotta guys are worth my time

Now one of my favorite singers at the moment, Chrisette Michelle *Like A Dream*:

His sticks was pounding on the drums
When I caught his eye
You know, my gosh, he looked at me
And he smiled at me
And he played to me
And I imagined that he spoke to me

They are both talking about the first time meeting a man. Along with the fantasy they’ve woven around this experience. Yet just looking at the word choice you can tell these are two different writers. They are approaching the same subject in a different angle.

I think that’s what voice is really about. It’s why Faking It is completely different from Homeport. *people frauding the art world.* It’s why so many writers say you can give a room of authors the same premise to a story and get a different execution of this premise from each author. It’s how YOU see the world. It’s why YOU are the only one who can tell the story. I completely agree voice also boils down to world view i.e. word choice.

But what I want you to take away from this post is to tell your story. Who cares if the boy meets girl story has been told a million times already. It’s what how you tell it that counts.

What other ways can music teach you about voice?