A Guide to “Voice” for Writers Who Hate Vague Advice
Using mindfulness to cultivate the “you-ness” of your writing
The more specific we are, the more universal something can become. Life is in the details. If you generalize, it doesn’t resonate. The specificity of it is what resonates — Jacqueline Woodson
Advice for new writers is maddeningly vague. This is sad because it doesn’t take much to help a writer get moving. I recall a conflict during graduate school between a fellow student, T, and his advisor (who we’ll call T2). T’s writing was blunt and impatient. In response, T2 filled his drafts with red ink, repeatedly advising him to “go deeper.”
The advice drove T crazy. “What does that even mean?” he fumed. In his mind he had said everything that needed saying. Clearly, though, something was still missing — he just didn’t know what.
Over the course of a few phone calls the two of us talked it through and worked out a strategy. Every time T was advised to “go deeper” on a point, he would assume that he needed to add three sub-points.
It lacked elegance, but it got him moving. Over time, T’s expertise compounded, and nuance was a natural side-effect of his growing skill. He teaches in Silicon Valley now, helping students who struggle with the same frustrations he…
