Keeping your author's voice in your work is important to your brand and your readership. However, first-time authors often struggle with this concept, not knowing just what is and what isn't an author's voice.
About.com states that, "Voice is the author's style, the quality that makes his or her writing unique, and which conveys the author's attitude, personality, and character."[i] What it is not is an excuse to ignore common grammar and punctuation rules.
Over the course of many years as a publisher and designer, I have seen it all; the good, the bad, and the truly ugly. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, the bad far outweighs the ugly. Nevertheless, it is vital that you know when and where to focus your efforts in order to make sure your writing holds true to your voice.
Sometimes-okay, quite often-I deal with first-time authors who insist their author's voice includes excessive capitalization, colloquialisms and other common writing errors. What follows is a short list of errors that hurts style more than it helps.
- Clichés
- Excessive Capitalization
- All CAPS in Words
- Excessive Exclamation Points
- Quotation Marks Around Words to Draw Emphasis
- Repeated Words in Close Proximity
- Run-On Sentences
Learning to let go of your insistence in using these things will greatly improve your work. In doing so, your reader will be much more likely to regard you as an expert on your subject matter.
Now let's look at each one of the above-named points individually.
Clichés
It is hard for many of us to stop using quaint sayings in both our speech and our writing. Our tendency is to use them because not doing so takes extra thought and effort.
Example:
Earlier on in this article I could have easily said, "stand your ground" or "fight for your rights." Instead, I chose not to use those sayings. "Insist your writing holds true," was a far better choice of words.
It took a bit of extra effort to think of a better way to state my thoughts. But, avoiding the use of clichés is always the better option. Also, never use a local expression unless you explain it. People who aren't from that locale might not understand what you are saying.
Excessive Capitalization
Capitalizing words that shouldn't be capitalized shows your reader that your writing doesn't follow the accepted standards of proper English. Even worse, capitalizing articles, short prepositions, and conjunctions is just not done!
Example:
Incorrect: "The Last Thing You Need To Know Is How To Deliver Your Closing Sales Pitch." or even "The Last Thing You Need to Know is How to Deliver Your Closing Sales Pitch."
Simply write it this way: "The last thing you need to know is how to deliver your closing sales pitch." Leave it at that.
All Caps
Using all caps to emphasize a word or group of words is the worst way to create emphasis. You end up not only looking unprofessional and amateurish, but you also run the risk of offending your reader.
Instead, choose to either bold or italicize your words to create emphasis. However, don't overdo the use of either of these two choices, or your emphasis will be lost, as is shown in the next sentence: If you really want to make your words stand out, use fewer emphasized words.
Example:
Incorrect: "Constant attention to DETAIL will ENSURE your reader gets your MESSAGE and that it is AS CLEAR AS A BELL!!!"
This is better written as follows: "Constant attention to detail will ensure your reader gets your message."
Did you notice that the emphasis is still there even without the use of excessive capitals? Perhaps you caught the additional removal of the cliché "AS CLEAR AS A BELL!!!" which segues us into our next problematic issue ...
Excessive use of punctuation
Oh, how easily we revert to the addition of multiple punctuation usage to indicate the expressive importance of a sentence. Not only have I seen multiple exclamation points, but multiple question marks appear every now and then as well, in the writings of new authors.
The better way to draw attention to a sentence or question in your work is to add bold or italics to the font style and only one ending punctuation mark.
There is one, and only one, exception to this rule. When you have a question that you also want to be expressed as having importance, it can have three punctuation marks. I'll show you an example below.
Example:
Incorrect: Don't let naysayers steal your dream!!!
Here is the sentence written correctly: Don't let naysayers steal your dream!
How could she have done that to me?!?
Beware that when you make every other sentence an exclaimed sentence, your exclamations and emphases will be negated. Limit the use of exclamation points in your writing. This will ensure that when you do use them your writing will have the emphasis you intended, in exactly the places you meant it to be.
Quotation Marks for Emphasis
Whether you choose to bring emphasis to a word with single or double quotation marks really has to do with whether the word or phrase is a common saying or not. If you are only calling attention to it and it is not a quotation then you are better off putting the word in italics.
Another benefit is that if you use italics rather than quote marks the confusion of whether the punctuation goes inside or outside of those marks is a non-issue. However, quotes should always be set off using quotation marks.
Example:
Incorrect: The most aggressive "disease" known to mankind is "cancer". However, HIV is fast becoming the "number one contender" for this top spot.
Here again is the same sentence written in the correct way: The most aggressive disease known to mankind is cancer. However, HIV is fast becoming the "number one contender" for this top spot.
Repeated Words in Close Proximity
This is one of the most frequently abused grammar rules. Once you find what seems like a perfect word, it seems easier to use it again than to take time to find a proper synonym.
Not only does this reflect badly on you, but it reads poorly too. If your reader hesitates, even for only a second, their attention will be torn away from your point. To keep your reader going, alter your words instead of repeating the same word too closely together.
Example:
A Catch-22 is a catch that you want to avoid being caught up in, if it all possible.
Now that was pretty bad wasn't it? Here's an improved version: The term "Catch-22" refers a vicious circle that you want to avoid being stuck in, if at all possible.
Run-on sentences
Whenever I see an entire paragraph is one long sentence my eyes glaze over and I shake my head. It feels like I'm reading legalese and I got lost somewhere between the opening phrase and the closing punctuation. I would guess it's about the same for you. However, a sentence doesn't have to be long to be considered a run-on sentence.
If you don't end a sentence appropriately, the intended meaning can be changed, or it can be misunderstood. A sentence that has too many ideas and runs on too long is called a run-on sentence.
When you are tempted to use conjunctive words and punctuation, consider your reader. If you break your sentences up into smaller segments, your reader will thank you.
Example:
Incorrect: Ann likes to read; she reads lots of books; she goes to the library three times a week.
While semicolons can be used to link independent thoughts, they can only be used to link two independent thoughts. You can't use two semicolons to link three independent thoughts
One of the thoughts in the sentence above about Ann's reading habits needs to be placed in a separate sentence, or a conjunction needs to be used. A better way to state the example sentence might be in the following manner: Ann likes to read; she reads lots of books and goes to the library three times a week.
Excessive citations or quotes
You may not believe this, but this is one of the absolute worst things you can do in your writing. Citations and quotes can verify and enhance your point of view. So, how could this possibly be a problem?
The issue crops up only when you have so many quotes or citations in your writing that you end up proving to your reader that you're not the authority. Instead, the people you're quoting and citing are the authorities.
So, how many references is the right number to use? The length of your work and the type of writing will help determine the best number to include. The rule is this: use no more than you have to in order to prove your point of view. No more and no less.
Example:
Since it would take a whole chapter in a book to show you this problem, there is no way for me to demonstrate it here. However, when you see it in your writing or the writings of others, you will definitely recognize it.
Summary
If your published work contains the types of errors described above, your reader will immediately discount your expertise. If you can avoid them, your work will be much improved and your author's voice will be much clearer.
