EXPLANATORY

In this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremist form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the ordinary "Pike County" dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not abeen done in a haphazard fashion, or by guesswork; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech.

I make this explanation for the reason that without it many readers would suppose that all these characters were trying to talk alike and not succeeding.

THE AUTHOR
Notice

Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.

BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR,
Per G. G., Chief of Ordnance
CHAPTER 1 I Discover Moses and the Bulrushers

You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of he Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly--Tom's Aunt Polly, she is--and Mary, and the Widow Doublas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before.

RECOGNIZE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPEAKING AND WRITING VOICE. Your "writer's voice" is developed within the limits of written language.  Your only materials are words.  In speaking you often don't think about "creating a voice"; you use it automatically.  But writing is a much more deliberate and  formal act than speaking.  Unlike the speaker, who often has the advantage of face to face conversation, or can at least gauge the effectiveness of the message by the respondent's tone of voice, the writer must rely solely on his words and thoughts; he gets no immediate feedback.
RELATE YOUR VOICE TO AN AUDIENCE.  The meaning of voice in writing becomes clear when you view language in dramatic terms. Voice makes practical sense if you think of life as a drama in which we all take part.  We find ourselves engaged in many roles and we accept these as a matter of course.  However, many potential writers seem to "freeze up."  There are a number of reasons for why this happens, but most often it is because  1)you may have failed to decide who you are in relation to your material and formed a clear idea, or 2) you have failed to define your audience. Only after these two things have been decided can you begin to work with the words that create your specific meaning.

ASSIGNMENT.  Write a paragraph of autobiography. Use a personal, honest voice. Make sure your intended audience is clear. How does the language you use to describe yourself to one audience (such as a group of youth campers) differ from what you'd use in another situation (such as your first date with the man/woman of your dreams?!)