Celebrate Nonfiction

Exploring the Joy of Nonfiction Reading and Writing

Behind the Books: Voice vs. Tone

I don’t usually get many comments on my blog
posts, but people do often Tweet and email me with related questions. Since
writing a series of posts about voice in nonfiction writing last January,
I’ve received a number of inquiries about the difference between tone and
voice. So here’s the way I look at it.

Traditionally, tone was defined as “author
attitude.” In other words, if a child gets a broken toy for Christmas, he/she
might write a complaint letter to the toy company. The tone of the letter would
be frustrated and angry because that’s how the child felt. His/her feelings
were coming through loud and clear.

In other words, tone is about the writer. It is what you hear when you read a personal narrative or an opinion piece or a
personal letter.

Voice is about the reader. The author crafts the experience he/she wants the reader to have. I
define voice as the personality of the writing or how the writing makes the
reader feel. Just as a reminder, here’s a visual I use to show the nonfiction
voice continuum:

I may not be
feeling so lively on days when I’m working on a manuscript with a lively voice.
But I have chosen that voice because I think it’s the best way to explain my
topic to young readers.

In an effort to
simplify writing for young children, the creators of the Six Traits of Writing
used voice as an umbrella term, and most more recent writing programs seem to
do the same thing. In 6 + 1 Traits of
Wring, Ruth Culham describes voice in the following ways:

 

“. . . the writer’s
passion for the topic coming through loud and clear.”

“. . . what writers
use to assert their own way of looking at an idea.”

“. . . the sense
that a real person is speaking to you and cares about the message.”

See? Those
descriptors include the traditional definitions of both tone and voice. It
seems like the terminology is evolving, so that voice now includes tone, but
tone does not necessarily include voice.

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