The Sound on the Page: Great Writers Talk about Style and Voice in Writing

Books about writing offer varied advice and often contradict themselves. Should everyone write like Hemingway? Is it ok to diverge from Strunk and White’s style? How can I inject personality into writing without putting off my audience (or my editor)? These are common issues for writers, especially new or aspiring ones, and Ben Yagoda has decided to address them. He has interviewed and compiled results on acclaimed writers from many fields, genres, and styles. He presents his findings and garnered insights in this book.

He divides his investigation into two parts: history and practice. The historical facet is interesting because it captures how style changes over time. Without a grasp of the past, it’s hard to figure out why we got show more here and how to move forward. At times, this section can involve a lot of names that I’m frankly unfamiliar with, but Yagoda offers erudite insights about topics like how speech and writing mingle or how modern writing should marry the heart and the head.

The section on practice is filled with transcripts of interviews from great authors. Yagoda himself is not the main driving force here as much as the questioner. The variety of writers this second-half deep and wide. Its meatiest chapter is about forms and genres; in 58 pages, that chapter looks at an interview with one-or-more expert in each writing form – personal essays, stories, poetry, online, etc. – and discusses how that person gained a remarkable style.

This book seems most suited towards writers in an educational degree program, but newer writers on their own can benefit from the self-discipline of reading Yagoda’s words. He concludes by noting that the cultivation of a writing style occurs throughout an entire life. It accompanies the building of inner strength and is most enhanced through reading, not practice. Thus, even experienced writers (and middle-aged fogeys like myself!) can benefit from his studied expertise. My authorship will benefit from the rich tapestry of quotations noted here. show less

I went from one Ben Yagoda book to another...this one is all about literary voice. What is it? Can it be learned? Can it be taught? The answers to all these questions are inconclusive, of course, but Yagoda has a fine time talking shop with a bunch of fine writers and coming to some qualified conclusions. (If you had to boil his conclusion down to one sentence, it would be "The style is the man.") This is one of those books writers read when they don't feel like writing. (Not that there's anything WRONG with that...)

A thoughtful, very well-written book about "style and voice in writing." Writing is "making consciousness manifest."