By Cecil Murphey
"Use strong
verbs!"
"Don't use is."
"Never use the passive
voice."
Most of us have had those
commands thrown at us countless times (and there was a time when they thundered
from my mouth). For the past decade, however, I've disavowed them.
I prefer not to use the
passive voice, but there are legitimate times to use it. Too many writers don't know the difference
between the passive voice (I was hit by the ball) and a state-of-being verb
(The sun is shining). Some writers feel they have committed a literary sin if
they use any form of the verb be.
All words are good words; they're
the tools we use to express ourselves.
The major reason I want to
bury those three sentences is that they tend to block writers' true voices.
For
instance, I'm working with a talented writer, and she's trying to learn to
write with her true voice. Recently, she wrote about a man being shot and his
wife situated her head on his chest. She felt that situated was a stronger verb
than lay or placed. It probably is stronger, but it doesn't fit.
Later I spotted his body
folded together. Originally, she had written, he bent forward, but one of her
friends said she needed a stronger verb than bent.
"Do you talk that
way?" I asked. When she said no, I said, "Then you're not writing
from who you are. Each of us has a unique voice."
Our voices are how we see
our world. They make us different from others. It's the sound of ourselves on paper or the
screen. To be true to ourselves, we need to write the way we talk—that is, to
be as natural as possible. Writing with our own voices—authentically—doesn’t
mean writing subjectively (although there are times we may do so.)
Each of us has that
personal one-of-a-kind tone. We have valuable things to say, and no one
expresses them the way we do. They become significant when they come from our
authentic selves.
Readers identify with
honesty. They may not realize what bothers them about certain writers, but they
sense that the writing doesn't have what one person calls "the ring of
truth." Too many want-to-be-published authors try to sound brilliant,
erudite, or like a real writer.
Discovering and then nurturing
our matchless voice is an ongoing process, and to accomplish that, we have to
be relentlessly honest.
We can learn techniques,
but if we don't write from within, our prose sounds forced and inauthentic, and
we stifle the heart of good writing. Not only do we need to discover our
voices, but also we have to accept them as valid. They express our distinctive life
view. Appreciating our voices comes from facing our fears, accepting ourselves,
and valuing who we are.
Finding and honoring our
voices is about self-acceptance. When we respect our uniqueness, we become more
fully who we are.
We also become better writers.
__________________________________________________________________
.jpg)
Veteran author Cecil
Murphey has written or co-written more than 135 books, including the NY
Times bestseller 90 Minutes in Heaven (with Don
Piper) and Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (with Dr. Ben
Carson). His books have sold in the millions and have encouraged and inspired
countless people around the world. In addition to writing, he enjoys preaching
and speaking for events nationwide. Website: www.cecilmurphey.com Blog for writers: www.cecwritertowriter.com
Blog for male survivors of
sexual abuse: www.menshatteringthesilence.blogspot.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/cecmurphey
Cec Murphey's Tips for
Writers: https://www.pinterest.com/twilabelk/cec-murpheys-tips-for-writers/
Murphey's Maxims: https://www.pinterest.com/twilabelk/murpheys-maxims/
No comments:
Post a Comment