Voice is a rather mysterious thing. I lost mine for about twenty years when I stopped writing poetry, so when I started up again, I was surprised to see what came out. It was a forceful, authoritative voice, and no matter what character I tried to assume for dramatic monologues, that quality was a constant. I did not know that that was my voice, perhaps in the way that one's own voice sounds different on a tape recording. I assume that what had happened in the intervening years was a slow process of maturation, so that by the time I started writing again, I felt "I am who I am. I know what I know," and that that quality comes through no matter what I try to do. I think it is a limitation of my ability to get inside some characters. If I don't feel that I have something in common with them, I usually don't attempt it.
Susan
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