Write Like No One’s Watching: Voice and Persona

“Sometimes writers get stuck in a voice that, for creative work, is too formal, too distant,” instructor Karen Bjorneby says, “and this can be especially true for those who also write professionally, such as lawyers, journalists, researchers, or technical writers. And some writers are simply shy, maybe a little timid about using the full power of voice and persona.”

In this workshop, we’ll read aloud pieces of voice-driven fiction, memoir and essay. Through various writing exercises, we’ll play with persona, writing in the style and syntax of different people. We will then weave some of this different style and syntax into our own voice, jazzing up the rhythm and flow, inflecting it with attitude or emotion, and layering in heavy authorial judgment or just plain getting weird.

“This workshop will provide a safe, supportive environment in which you can play, like actors on the page, and listen deep within yourself for a voice that sounds true,” says Karen. “By the end of the workshop, you will understand how and why voice draws the reader in, and how to inhabit a persona and stretch your own voice to do the same in your own work.

This class is appropriate for writers working in any genre.