“My goal in life is to be the exact same person to you, whether you’ve met me for the first time or the 21st time. Your knowledge of me is there from the beginning in an honest, brutal sort of way. Get your writings to be there…in an honest, brutal sort of way, and you’ll have found your true voice.”
–Joyce Jace
(Visited 26 times, 1 visits today)
I do get what she’s saying and I agree up to a point. But remember the kerfuffle when Bob Dylan strapped on an electric guitar. You can find your voice and end up in a rut if you’re not careful. People grow and their voices change, they even break in many cases. Your readers need to be willing to accept that you may not be the writer they fell in love with twenty years earlier. You may have grown in ways they can’t accept and that’s a shame but you’ll attract new readers.
I agree with Jim. And how boring for the writer if they are exactly the same after 10, 15 or 50 years. Would anyone at 30 really want to be the same person they were at 16 and have the same voice? I certainly hope not.
Good point Jim and Debbie, I would certainly not let anyone read my “voice” at 16 or 28 for that matter. I hope that it has matured with more knowledge and writing.