Maeve Binchy on the Importance of Writing in Your Own Voice

“I don’t say I was ‘proceeding down a thoroughfare.’ I say I ‘walked down the road.’ I don’t say I ‘passed a hallowed institute of learning.’ I say I ‘passed a school.’ You don’t wear all your jewellery at once. You’re much more believable if you talk in your own voice.”

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Irish author Maeve Binchy (1940-2012) made a very successful career writing delightful and sympathetic novels set in the Irish countryside. She was recognized in Ireland upon her death as the nation’s most beloved writer of her generation. A major reason for this was her earnestness and “complete absence of malice.” The quote below is her attempt to explain one of the secrets of her writing.

“I don’t say I was ‘proceeding down a thoroughfare.’ I say I ‘walked down the road.’ I don’t say I ‘passed a hallowed institute of learning.’ I say I ‘passed a school.’ You don’t wear all your jewellery at once. You’re much more believable if you talk in your own voice.” [Wikiquote]

Photo credit: “Binchy33” by Jon Kay at en.wikipedia – Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is/was here. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

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