Components of Writing-Finding Voice

Many years ago I lived in a town, a small city actually, where there was a vibrant and healthy music scene. There were bars where Friday and Saturday nights you could find almost any kind of band you wanted to hear.I knew some members of one of them and as it wasn't a big city, I often found we knew the same people. Now I had been playing guitar at that time for about 15 years and although I wasn't overly confident in my abilities, I knew I loved the instrument and was willing to learn what I could and still could just play for hours for myself alone.One day the lead singer of this particular band was at a mutual friends house and I was playing. I never sing because I don't feel inclined and never thought my voice was remotely what someone would want to hear.Also it takes all the left-side of my brain to just concentrate on PLAYING. The lead singer came over out of the blue, looked at me and said, "You know what your problem is? Your guitar has no voice". I'm not a violent person and I didn't even hit the guy, but those words still sting me to this day and at the time I was devastated because I knew he was right.
He was also an arrogant asshole, but I knew he was right and that's a whole other story. So what I did was I practiced even more. I took classical guitar lessons in college after that which opened up a whole other world of scales, compositions, and harmonics.But I kept playing and I got better. I played slide guitar with open tunings and that expanded the scope of 8 bar blues. I don't play much anymore. Just when I FEEL like it and also it helps if I get stuck on a developing idea. I usually can use a song to get me in the time or place I need to be to get out of the hole. But this idea of my playing having no voice made me think about a screenplay I read this week. Well really I've read two so far this week, but it was William Monahan's "Edge of Darkness" which made me think about voice. Mostly because his voice is so unique on the page even when there is tons of tension and action involved!
But I still am wondering what is voice in a screenplay? I know it's what makes us unique as writers the way we create our characters, what they have done, are doing in the plot, and what they say and how they say it. It's also how we present our action lines and descriptions, the words we use and the ideas we inject into the theme-line. I also know it's what readers look to be unique and compelling to the point they want to HEAR what we have to say because they connect and like our voice. If this all still seems so formless and abstract an answer, I know and I think it is almost an intangible entity, yet when it's not there, it's blaring, which for me makes it fascinating.
Now where to go with this. Can I tell you HOW to find your voice? No. It's already there, and each of us must find it on there own. Also it's something which grows with experience. It's also NOT something you can imitate convincingly. I have no desire to SOUND like Monahan, Black, Bolt(well maybe) or anybody else. Why? Because I'm NOT any of those guys. I'm me an you are you and your voice in your writing is the sum total of all the knowledge you have accumulated in your life at this time, with more coming later.
A part of voice growing with experience into the one which is uniquely yours, is learning the craft and all it's tools. All the things we learn from Julie Gray, Scott Meyers, Carson Reeves, John August, or Jeff Kitchen, are like me learning classical guitar or 8 bar blues. They help us to develop and grow. And with that growth we find our voice.

Sorry it's taken so long to post here and I promise I'm going to keep on a more scheduled track because it's good for me and I hope it will be good for you. I read a lot of different blogs everyday and if you don't I'll try and steer you in the right direction.

Breaking the Ice and Other Random Thoughts

This is the first post of a would-be screenwriter, like most of you, I would guess, if you've found this site. I'm not an expert by any means but I've been writing for more years than I care to discuss. It's a compulsion, which is a good thing in this case because the more you write the better you should get at understanding the craft.

I hope to share thoughts on things going on in the business of filmmaking and screenwriting because I spend so much time searching for information about writing and film I think I can help you with what I find, and myself by writing about it. Two birds, as it were. One thing I've noticed over the last several months is the quality of many of the blogs and sites relating to film online now. I'll post a list with links of what I think are some of the best, but for now I just wanted to mention it.

When I was in film school there was no internet as we know it. Hollywood was really a closed system and trying to glean information about the film business outside of trade papers or unless you knew someone actually working in the business was costly and difficult. I went to Sherwood Oaks Experimental College, which is still a very good resource, but at the time it was too expensive for me to take classes all the time.

Jump cut to the '90s and everything really changed with technology. I was and still am working in IT and I used it as time went on to get more and more information about film. Now I have about 75 scripts on a flash drive and I can read them practically anywhere. So many barriers are gone except the blank page, which is probably the biggest for some writers. It really is a great time to be a writer.

Well back to work for now. Get back to you later...