Typed Voice

I’m new to the literary world. In fact I’m a newborn to this place. I’ve been learning more and more each day that passes. A concept that I’ve noticed lately is the writer’s “voice”. This term voice is an interesting concept to me. The word voice gives me a mental picture of something auditory. I don’t read a voice, I hear it. Maybe I’m not using my imagination as much as I should be. When I read something, I hear a voice in my head say the words. Sometimes the words are being read in a big 300lb man deep voice, and other times by a skinny geek with glasses. I suppose that’s the voice that we are talking about.

This makes me wonder, what is my voice? I read certain blogs that have no pictures of the writer. My intuition to put a gender, age, build, and even hair color to the person writing is instinctual. The person who blogs with sentences such as “then we just like, told them I don’t think so. Cause, like, we don’t even like her and her friends”, is automatically 15 years old and female in my mind.

Some people write the words that they speak. Others write as if they have a dictionary and thesaurus holster on their belt. These authors create a certain feel. Reading their work creates a detailed picture and essence of the person.

I wonder what I look like to other people. I have a voice as a writer, and as I reread this I see/hear myself. But all the voices in your head always sound different to someone else.

I wonder how I sound to the reader? What physical characteristics would I conjure up inside the brains of others?