Literary Laryngitis

“I’m losing my voice,” my friend croaked, and I cringed in sympathy. What was left of her normally pleasant voice sounded painful at best.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be trying to talk,” I suggested. In all honesty, her croaking attempts at conversation grated on my nerves and set up an empathetic ache in my own throat. I handed her a notebook and pen. “Here, use this. Save your voice.”

Of course she didn’t listen. Her refusal to do so cost me an hour or two of auditory torture. And within two days, my vocally challenged pal couldn’t speak a word. For several days, she silently consumed juices and acid reflux medications. Yep, turned out, her recurrent problem with reflux was the culprit all along—the nasty stuff had damaged her vocal cords.

Laryngitis (weak voice or voice loss) usually lasts less than a few weeks and is caused by something minor, like a cold. Sometimes, however, something more serious brings it on, and it sticks around a good, long while. For instance, vocal strain (most often caused by yelling or overuse of the voice) can cause serious damage. Professional singers, who use and abuse their voices on a regular basis, are prone to laryngitis, as are impressionists, who strain their own voices by forcing them to take on the vocal attributes of others.

Writers often suffer a similar malady, losing their voice by using it to imitate an author (or authors) they like and admire. Eventually, their own literary personality is lost because they learn to be such incredible copycats of other voices—leaving them without one of their own.

The culprit? Writer’s reflux. Whereas acid reflux burns the esophageal tissue, writer’s reflux damages literary muscles. We mentally consume and digest the works of other authors. This is not a bad thing—one cannot write without reading. The trouble starts when we begin to rework the ideas, words, and voice of that other author. The result is not pretty: It’s writer’s reflux, a condition in which writers regurgitate what they’ve read into their own manuscripts, often not even quite realizing they’ve done so. Enamored of someone else’s way of saying things, they refuse to process their own ideas, come up with their own turns of phrase, seek out their own style of writing. This weakens and deteriorates the creative “muscles,” damages writing ability and eventually causes complete loss of voice. Result: Literary Laryngitis.

We all learn by reading other authors. To some degree, we all mold ourselves in the image of our favorite writers, just as a child imitates the handwriting samples provided him by his teacher. This is natural and to be expected. But at some point that child begins to add his own flourishes to the script, starts to form letters according to his own taste and imagination. Eventually he develops a unique signature that is his alone.

What we need then, as writers, is our own literary “signature.” A writing style that is unmistakably ours. A way of saying things that clearly identifies our work as belonging to us.

A unique voice. An unmistakable signature. May I suggest a fingerprint? One of a kind. Unmistakable. No chance whatsoever of duplication.

On the flipside, sometimes we just need to take a break. Overusing a voice also causes damage that can lead to laryngitis. Give it a break. Dive into a good book. Watch a good movie. Take a walk. (Study a few books and articles on developing voice.) Make these little detours the self-prescribed “chicken soup for the writer’s soul” that puts you on the road to recovery.

Before you know it, your voice will be back—and entirely your own.


About this author:

DELIA LATHAM is a born-and-bred California gal, recently transplanted to Oklahoma where she lives with her husband Johnny. She’s a Christian wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend—but above all, she treasures her role as child of the King and heir to the throne of God. Delia enjoys big, loud, happy family gatherings. When she’s not writing, she loves to play piano and sing, read, enjoy nature’s beauty, and design marketing products for authors. Her inspirational novel, Goldeneyes, was released in March 2008; Yesterday’s Promise in March 2010; Adam’s Wings (a children’s book) will be available December 2010. Find out more about this author at www.delialatham.net.

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Note:

This blog post is one of the stops on the blog tour for Yesterday’s Promise. I hope you’ll follow along! Two commenters (winners to be chosen from comments at the various blog stops) will win $10 gift certificates to White Rose Publishing. Blog stops remaining are:

May 26: White Roses in Bloom, hosted by JoAnn Carter

May 27: Carla’s Writing Café, hosted by Carla Stewart

May 28: Coming Home, hosted by Miralee Ferrell (“Blog” page)

Previous blog stops are listed here, if you’d like to backtrack. Every comment gains you one more entry.