1. Voice Adding Voice to Writing

2. What is “voice” in writing? Telephone Write like you talk - practice Write what you know, what you love Writing is entertainment - engaging the reader’s mind and keeping them interested.

3. What is “voice” in writing? Everyone sees the world through their own filter. Let yourself go on the first draft (dancing) - have fun and let your feelings out (feel the music). Write what you know, what you love. If you don’t believe in your own story, how can anyone else? Writing is entertainment - engaging the reader’s mind and keeping them interested. Tell a good story - join people together, create characters that come alive, dream as you tell the story.

4. A Second Chance To Win by Angela Megaw I had choked. I had lost the game and with it the state championship. That season I had shot my way to a free throw percentage well into the nineties, and going into that final game I hadn’t missed a foul shot in over thirty attempts. But I shattered that streak by missing the one shot that really mattered. If I had only made that one shot. Remembering the game, I set the Holodeck transport system 99804. Location: Barre Stadium. Date: March 6, 2004. Time: 6:00 p.m., two hours before game time.

5. Personality and Character Who is your character (voice)? Invent three wildly different personas (e.g. prison inmate, celebrity, anti-social recluse, grandmother) Rewrite the introductory paragraphs to the essay from the perspective of each of these people. Notice how the style changes with each new voice you adopt.

6. Applying voice Now go back to the first paragraphs and try to make your own personality come forth. What do you want your reader to know about you from the very beginning of your essay?