Had I to give advice to writers (and I do not think they need it, because everyone has to find out things for himself), I would tell them simply this; I would ask them to tamper as little as they can with their own work. I do not think tinkering does any good. The moment comes when one has found out what one can do - when one has found one's natural voice, one's rhythm. Then I do not think that slight emendations should prove useful.
I don't want to sound like anyone.
Ben Wheatley continues to be one of the most original voices in contemporary film.
I use language to pierce the brain. If I spoke like everybody else spoke, it would just dull everything.
Among contemporaries, I hugely admire Alice Munro, our Chekhov, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, and John Updike, American masters all. I also believe that the voice of Gordon Lish is astoundingly original and sorrowful.
Don't give me songs, give me something to sing about!
I don't consciously do anything to maintain a unique voice.
I'm more concerned with getting them to find and strengthen their original voice as writers rather than imposing my own subjective tastes, judgements or sensibility on the project.
There hasn't been an original voice in stand-up since Sam Kinison.
I started in theater and I wanted to write plays, but I never really found an original voice as a playwright.
I think original voices get noticed. But most importantly, I think you should have a story to tell.
As cliched as it sounds, if you have an original voice and an original idea, then no matter what anybody says, you have to find a way to tell that story.
It's better to write a pilot rather than write a spec show. In some cases, you have to do both, but more often, writing a pilot and having an original voice is more important.
Avoid stock expressions (like the plague, as William Safire used to say) and repetitions. Don't say that as a boy your grandmother used to read to you, unless at that stage of her life she really was a boy, in which case you have probably thrown away a better intro. If something is worth hearing or listening to, it's very probably worth reading. So, this above all: Find your own voice.
TV writing - for me, at least - is half original voice and half an embodiment and a representation of the spirit of the actors you're writing for.
Man for all his genius is but an echo of the original Voice, a reflection of the uncreated Light.
