What is Authorial Voice?

Understanding authorial voice in a relatable way has stumped me for quite a while. Too often, I ran into the glib explanation of ‘I know it when I see it.’

Below is a general explanation of authorial voice:

Authorial voice refers to the unique style, tone, and perspective that an author brings to their writing. It’s the distinct personality and character that comes through in their work, often recognizable across different pieces. This voice is shaped by the author’s choice of words, sentence structure, rhythm, and the way they convey emotions and ideas. It reflects the author’s individual worldview, experiences, and attitudes, making their writing distinct and personal. In essence, authorial voice is what makes an author’s work uniquely theirs, allowing readers to identify and connect with their storytelling style.

AI Summary

At first glance, it appears well-defined. Look closer. When I tried to use it to describe my own writing, I found it like grabbing smoke—elusive.

How to use authorial voice to find new reads

If you’ve ever found yourself drawn to books by a single author, the reason is their authorial voice. Voice is the intricate weave of genre, style of storytelling, and writing style. It’s the reason you may like the book club selection My Sister’s Keeper, but not the more lyrically written book All the Light We Cannot See.

As a reader, if you understand what author voices you prefer, you’ll find it easier to discover other authors and books you’ll enjoy. After all, there are so many more great reads than the time to read them.

Understanding authorial voice: an exercise

I came across an exercise in Gabriela Pereira’s book diy MFA. She suggested recreating the story, not necessarily its poetic form, of the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty in the voice of a famous author. One of the authors she suggested was Stephen King.

While I’m too much of a scaredy cat to be a big horror genre fan, I’ve read enough of Stephen King’s work to have a sense of his writing. I took a stab at creating a version of the fairy tale in what I thought was his voice. I included an eerie setting, hints of an otherworldly force, and subtle foreshadowing of doom.

What I learned from the authorial voice exercise as a writer

Authors have a recognizable style beyond theme and genre

First, the AI version and my own were worlds apart. My version was much thinner in both words and description than the AI version. While I’m certain neither matched what King himself would have written, it did shed a glimmer of insight into my understanding of voice.

With the ease AI offered, I went on to repeat the exercise for Faulkner, Hemingway, Austen, Poe, Angelou, Vonnegut, and others. All of the versions had an AI sense to them. However, each version was distinct. If I were presented with a list of possible authors to assign to any given passage, the connection was clear even if the list included multiple authors from the same genre. 

The differences between the versions of the same short story solidified my understanding of what was meant by authorial voice. 

On a lark, I pasted the first chapter of my book into AI and asked it to produce a version based on the sample. The results confirmed my suspicions that each version was equal parts of the AI and the author’s voices. I’ll share the AI results in a future post along with my Humpty Dumpty verstion, and my general authorial voice progress.

Tension and tone were achieved via the setting

A second insight was that tension and tone were achieved via the setting. Take for instance, the description of the climactic fall: “One fateful night, as the clock struck midnight and the air grew thick with an unsettling stillness, Humpty Dumpty teetered on the edge of his perch. The wall, like the town itself, held its breath, as if anticipating the inevitable. And then, with a sound that echoed like a distant thunderclap, he fell.” Fifty-three words and only five, Humpty Dumpty teetered … he fell, directly related ot the protagonist.

My focus when writing often centered on the situation: setting was the backdrop. This exercise caused me to reconsider how I dealt with setting.

I rely too heavily on Similes and underuse other tools

The rewritten passages included metaphors, similes, personification, symbolism, and imagery that reflected the inner emotional framework. Some of these language devices, like personification, are ones I rarely use but found compelling in the samples. I decided to practice these areas with short writing prompts.

It’s your turn to play with voice

What type of voice do you have? I challenge you to try your hand at your own version of Humpty Dumpty. Or, do as my husband did. Ask AI to describe your writing style and see what it reveals about your communication style.

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AI Rewrite of Humpty Dumpty in the voice of  Stephen King

Sure, here’s a reimagined version of “Humpty Dumpty” in the style of Stephen King, known for his suspenseful and often eerie storytelling:

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Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, a crumbling relic of a bygone era, its bricks worn and weathered like the pages of an ancient tome. The wall stood at the edge of a small, forgotten town, where shadows stretched long and the wind whispered secrets through the gnarled branches of the trees.

Humpty Dumpty had always been an enigma, a figure of both fascination and fear. His shell, a pale, ghostly white, seemed to glow under the moonlight, casting an otherworldly aura that sent shivers down the spines of those who dared to look too closely. The townsfolk spoke of him in hushed tones, their voices tinged with a mix of awe and dread.

One fateful night, as the clock struck midnight and the air grew thick with an unsettling stillness, Humpty Dumpty teetered on the edge of his perch. The wall, like the town itself, held its breath, as if anticipating the inevitable. And then, with a sound that echoed like a distant thunderclap, he fell.

The townspeople awoke to the news, their hearts heavy with a sense of foreboding. They gathered around the shattered remains, their faces pale and drawn. The king’s men arrived, their horses snorting in the cold morning air, but there was nothing they could do. Humpty Dumpty lay broken, a haunting reminder of the fragility of life and the darkness that lurked just beyond the edge of their understanding.

In the days that followed, the town was never quite the same. The wall stood silent, a monument to the mystery that had unfolded, and the people went about their lives with a newfound wariness, as if aware that something unseen watched from the shadows, waiting for its next moment to strike.

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AI Rewrite of Humpty Dumpty in the voice of  Jodi Picoult

Sure, here’s a reimagined version of “Humpty Dumpty” in the style of Jodi Picoult, known for her emotionally charged narratives and deep exploration of human relationships:

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Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, a precarious perch that seemed to mirror the fragility of his own existence. He was an egg, yes, but more than that, he was a symbol of the delicate balance between hope and despair. The wall was old, its bricks weathered by time and the elements, much like the human heart that endures the storms of life.

As Humpty gazed out over the kingdom, he pondered the choices that had led him to this moment. He thought of the people he had met along the way, each one leaving an indelible mark on his shell. There was the king, a man burdened by the weight of his crown, and the queen, whose smile hid a thousand sorrows. And then there were the soldiers, steadfast and loyal, yet powerless to prevent the inevitable.

When Humpty fell, it was not just a fall from the wall, but a descent into the depths of his own vulnerability. The world seemed to shatter around him, each piece a reflection of the dreams and fears he had carried within. The king’s horses and men rushed to his side, their efforts earnest but ultimately futile. They could not put him back together, for some things, once broken, cannot be mended.

In the end, Humpty’s story was not just about a fall, but about the courage to face the unknown, the strength to accept one’s own imperfections, and the grace to find beauty in the brokenness. It was a reminder that life, like an egg, is fragile, but within its shell lies the potential for something extraordinary.