When Is It Best to Use an Active Voice As Opposed to a Passive Voice in Creative Writing?
Ah, that good old literature question; should you use an active voice or should you use a passive voice when writing? What works best? Which is better? This debate has been going on for years and will no doubt never be resolved.
Ultimately there is no right answer - you can use either and both will enhance your overall writing.
But there are occasions when one form of 'voice' works better than the other and so to ensure that you creative writing is at its very best, you should aim to use the voice style that is most appropriate for each section of your manuscript or for your overall story.
If you are thinking about which type of voice would work best for your next piece of creative writing, the first thing you need to understand is the difference between these two voices - what exactly is an active voice, and how does it differ to a passive voice? Well, when you write using an active voice, the character that you are writing about 'acts'.
Sentences such as 'I threw the bat at him', 'Catherina will wash the dishes up after dinner', 'you have crossed the line this time' all use an active voice.
How do we know this? Because it is the character who is acting out an action, a movement or a thought.
In comparison, a passive voice is used when an object as opposed to a character is 'acting', and where the character is passive - they find themselves 'acted-upon' by something as opposed to being the person who is physically doing the acting.
Confused? Yes it is a little confusing.
Let's have a look at a couple of sentences that use a passive voice in order to draw a distinction between the active and the passive: - 'The bat was thrown by me.
' - 'After dinner, the dishes will be washed by Catherina.
' - 'The line was crossed by him.
' In each of the examples above, one can see how it is the object (the bat, the dishes, the line) that are all acted upon by the verb, not the character.
If you then compare these sentences to their counterparts above, which utilise an active voice, you can see that the sentences that make use of a passive voice are dulled down versions of those that utilise an active voice.
One of the occasions that it is best to use an active voice therefore is when you are trying to instil some energy and pace into your writing.
Other times that an active voice should be chosen over and above a passive voice is when you are trying to covey something in a small number of words, or if you are trying to create a sense of speed in a particular scene of your manuscript.
You may also find that your creative writing starts to sound a little formal if you rely heavily on the passive voice, so to open up the writing or to ensure your manuscript is accessible to readers, try re-creating some of your sentences using an active voice and see if this makes a difference to the style and tone of your creative writing.
Ultimately there is no right answer - you can use either and both will enhance your overall writing.
But there are occasions when one form of 'voice' works better than the other and so to ensure that you creative writing is at its very best, you should aim to use the voice style that is most appropriate for each section of your manuscript or for your overall story.
If you are thinking about which type of voice would work best for your next piece of creative writing, the first thing you need to understand is the difference between these two voices - what exactly is an active voice, and how does it differ to a passive voice? Well, when you write using an active voice, the character that you are writing about 'acts'.
Sentences such as 'I threw the bat at him', 'Catherina will wash the dishes up after dinner', 'you have crossed the line this time' all use an active voice.
How do we know this? Because it is the character who is acting out an action, a movement or a thought.
In comparison, a passive voice is used when an object as opposed to a character is 'acting', and where the character is passive - they find themselves 'acted-upon' by something as opposed to being the person who is physically doing the acting.
Confused? Yes it is a little confusing.
Let's have a look at a couple of sentences that use a passive voice in order to draw a distinction between the active and the passive: - 'The bat was thrown by me.
' - 'After dinner, the dishes will be washed by Catherina.
' - 'The line was crossed by him.
' In each of the examples above, one can see how it is the object (the bat, the dishes, the line) that are all acted upon by the verb, not the character.
If you then compare these sentences to their counterparts above, which utilise an active voice, you can see that the sentences that make use of a passive voice are dulled down versions of those that utilise an active voice.
One of the occasions that it is best to use an active voice therefore is when you are trying to instil some energy and pace into your writing.
Other times that an active voice should be chosen over and above a passive voice is when you are trying to covey something in a small number of words, or if you are trying to create a sense of speed in a particular scene of your manuscript.
You may also find that your creative writing starts to sound a little formal if you rely heavily on the passive voice, so to open up the writing or to ensure your manuscript is accessible to readers, try re-creating some of your sentences using an active voice and see if this makes a difference to the style and tone of your creative writing.
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