I believe that I have a strong and present writing voice, but Chapter 5 really asked me to think outside of what I routinely do with said voice. I find that it’s hard to move my writing voice around, and shift its forces. Sometimes I would like my voice to take a backseat to other voices, but I have hard time rendering the voice of my family, characters, or even some of other selves (think Nicki Minaj and Roman). One my biggest problems with writing for a long time/writing at all is that I get bored reading my own “voice.” I am not sure if that’s a problem that I should have, but there comes a point in my writing process where I revise and say, “ugh, this voice.” This is where some of the maneuvering tips in the chapter would come in handy such as introducing the voice of others through dialogue. Which is where a great question arises: How accurate should nonfiction dialogue be? I can never remember exactly what people say to me.
In writing fiction, the voice’s authenticity does not have to match a life’s authenticity, but in writing non-fiction, I think of the authenticity of my voice in direct relation to the authenticity of my life. Sometimes I can’t even remember if something really happened, but I want to write about it. Is the unreliable voice admitted then? Should that shakiness come from another voice in the work? I wonder if there are more ways to play with and challenge the “authentic” voice in nonfiction. I also struggle in understanding this idea of an opposite point of view. I can’t help but think of whether or not I can really move away from my own voice to that of my sisters or brother? Do I even know what their voices are? Do they have to agree with the voice that I have given them? I guess all those answered swill be revealed in the process of doing the work.
