‘The voice is you.’

“Whether it is fiction or nonfiction, the voice of the author is what keeps us going. If the voice does not capture the reader, the voice is silenced by the reader putting down the book. The authenticity of the voice carries the reader along. You feel the closeness. The writer has been there. The voice is you. It is your vocabulary. It’s the way you talk to yourself. It is unique as a fingerprint unless you are copying someone else’s voice, and that’s not a good idea.” —Nan Talese