A good writer has a distinctive voice. A great writer has an inimitable one. Regardless of subject or place
in time or space, good and great writers share one trait--they are true to their personalities, spirits, and characters.
How do they do this? How can WE do this as teachers and writers? And how can we show our students what crafting
an authentic voice entails?
One of our premier writers on the writing process and writing workshop, Tom Romano, tells us. In a compelling and
manageable text, he makes the case for giving special time and attention to voice as a means to get students involved
and improve their writing, particularly expository writing. Using his own strong voice and trademark narrative
style, he teaches by example--his own and his students'--how writers can be true to themselves and vivid on the
page to pull readers in and keep them reading.
More than that, Romano is an irresistible motivator to write well. His infectious enthusiasm, intellect, and heart
shine through every chapter--from his tempting "antipasto" of stories and poems beginning each section
of his book to the delicious courses that follow. He divides his text into small readable parts that consider the
"delight and dilemma of voice," the qualities of voice, and the relationship of voice and identity. Many
examples indicate ways to "trust the gush." And there are practical ideas here, too--strategies and techniques
for immediate use in your teaching and writing.
Read and take heed of Romano. Craft an authentic voice in your own writing. Teach students how they can do the
same. Then revel in the candor and insight, the absorbing and entertaining stories, the clear thinking--the good,
maybe even great, writing.
Table of Contents
I. The Delight and Dilemma of Voice Antipasto: Stopping By Woods After a Bronchoscopy
1. Reasons to Read
2. Voice Lessons
3. Email Admissions
4. Two Bands
II. Qualities of Voice Antipasto: "Poems," Gary Gildner
5. Qualities of Voice
6. Information Please
7. The Appeal of Narrative
8. Perception and Surprise
9. Surprise for Whom?
10. Humor, Lightness, Play
III. Trust the Gush Antipasto: Olivia Leads the Way
11. The Place of Passion
12. "Outcast," Lorie Barnhart
13. How Voice Is Lost
14. The Five-Paragraph You-Know-What
15. Of Buts and Burrs and Bad Advice
16. Grammatically High-Strung
17. Whatever It Takes: Breaking the Rules in Style
18. Mischief, Rebellion, Attitude
19. Many Voices
20. Imitation
21. "It's Alive! It's Alive! It's Alive!"
22. Wear a Mask, Unleash a Voice
23. The Generative Power of Parallel Structure
24. "Who Said That?" David Schuster
IV. Crafting Authentic Voice Antipasto: Squirming, Fretting, and Fraud
25. Enter Craft
26. Making It Rougher
27. Mind Pictures
28. Hit Dem Senses
29. What the Ear Knows
30. Linguistic Inebriation
31. Living Leaping Words
32. Who's Got the Action?
33. Weeding the Garden
34. Placement and Payoff
35. Great Lengths
36. Get Your Pipe and Blow Doughnuts: The Speed of Metaphor
37. Ingmar Bergman, Janis Joplin, and Howard Cosell: Allusions to Extend Meaning
38. Behold This Visage: How Speech Helps Writing
39. In the Beginning
40. And in the End
41. Working TogetherV. Voice and Identity Antipasto: Huck, Holden, and Talya
42. The Moves in One Piece
43. A Small Work I Have to Do
44. Utmost Essence