What could Elmore Leonard possibly have to do with a blog designed to speak to your customers? Simply this: the voice in Leonard novels is distinct and recognizable and while readers may not speak in the same way his narrators and characters do, they understand and relate to it. It is a distinct, real voice.
I use the word voice reluctantly. I use to associate it with airy fairy literary discussions where I end up scratching my head wondering what people are actually talking about. But one day I finally realized what the word meant, at least for me, and it really is the best word.
And it’s particularly applicable to writing online – emphasis on blogs.
Voice has something to do with personality, grammar (or lack thereof), word choice and syntax. In any piece of writing, if you can easily imagine someone saying the words, if a particular person comes to mind (you don’t have to have actually met them), the thing that conjures this is voice.
This is what Elmore Leonard is a master of.
Of course, you don’t want to write like him, especially in a business-commercial context. But you do want to communicate a personality and you want the ring of truth in it. It’s possible to write very well and be a poor communicator. And I have an example.
Years ago, a friend of mine would send me letters. (Yes, letters.) She was an excellent writer. In fact, I haven’t come across many people who could write better than she did. The problem was, they were a little too good. They didn’t sound like her. The read as if they were from someone else entirely, someone who was a great deal more formal than she was.
We use to have arguments about this. I’d say, "But this isn’t how you talk. It doesn’t sound like you." She would argue that if she wrote the way I suggested, it wouldn’t be "correct."
We never resolved this one. Her habit of mind and mine were quite different.
Now, I’m not arguing for bad writing. There’s far too much of that already. And I’m not saying we should all write like Elmore Leonard, or that writing should reflect the way we talk exactly. But I do think writing should be capable of being read out loud, easily, and when it is it should sound like a real person. It should have a voice: a point of view and tone that communicates in a way readers can relate to and identify with.
Every successful blog does this. In a business context, it’s very difficult to achieve, particularly in a corporate environment where there is a great deal of anxiety over how the company communicates to customers, what they are communicating and who is controlling it. In fact, the kind of voice required is almost antithetical to standard corporate practice and may not be achievable in this environment. For some, it’s just too scary.
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