Online Course
Finding Authentic Voice
January 09 - February 12, 2023
Level Fundamentals
Do we only have one “authentic” voice? And if one’s writerly voice can be “found,” can it also be lost?
Additional Information
The concept of voice eludes beginning and established writers alike. How can we balance having an identifiable voice that readers will want to return to with writing in a variety of modes and forms? And if our individual writer’s voices are so unique, then can this essential element of writing even be taught? This course seeks to demystify the concept of a writer’s voice to gain a better understanding of others’ voices as well as our own.
Students who complete the course will gain access to time-testing writing resources, receive practical tools and tips on voice, and work through exercises they will be able to return to again and again in their careers as writers, whenever their writing voices feel at turns mellifluous or hoarse. This course is designed to help writers of all stages “sing” more enduringly with their authentic voice(s).
Course Schedule
Week One: Outside Voice
Students will stretch their “outside” voices by composing rants/complaints/contrary position statements/challenges to authority. Readings will model effective uses of “outside voice,” and smaller writing assignments will build to a larger, resounding “outside voice” essay draft. A broader objective is to create outward-looking pieces that engage the world while incorporating each writer’s particular positionality.
Week two: Inside Voice
Students will learn to modulate their “inside” voices by engaging with more meditative, traditional personal essay prompts that derive inspiration from journal entries, lists, “I remember” prompts and other exercises. Students will explore the long tradition of the personal essay and its many forms; practice basic concepts of inviting identity, history, and cultural touchstones into their writing; and compose a draft incorporating these concepts.
Week Three: Whisper Voice
Students will hone their “whisper” voices by composing lyrical, experimental exercises with exercises in portrait, object, and cross-genre essays, and will practice the art of research and digression as other ways of finding form.
Week four: Throwing Your Voice
Students will discover the art of throwing their voices by imitating the forms/voices of other writers. Students will further warm up their voices by practicing ekphrastic writing and innovative forms like the hermit crab, braid, faux-translation, and flash essay. Students will analyze and practice deeper listening/reading skills as a means of furthering their vocal development.
Week five: Choral Voice(s): Singing it all together
Students will survey the panoply of voices they’ve conjured in the class and compose reflections on their work, practice collaborative pieces with other writers, post a live reading of their work, and compose plans for further voice stretching after the course concludes.
Course Instructor
Hear from our Students
Creative Nonfiction’s online writing classes have helped more than 3,000 writers tell their stories better.
Read Success StoriesTestimonials
I enjoyed reading other peoples work and getting feedback about my own work– the handouts/video links and class lessons were also very informative and relevantly paced to the give structural guidelines.
Catherine O’Neill