In "Narrative as Rhetoric" James Phelan makes four main points, as well as two other statements about the term 'voice'. Of these six ideas, says Phelan, three move the concept of voice "away from style and toward character", while two "move the concept back toward style" (Phelan 48). The left over point states that "voice exists in the space between style and character", putting this point into the middle ground, merely near style (Phelan 47).

Phelan's first three rules set the tone for the rest of the essay. If audience is to take the order of rules to rank significance, then the fact that voice moves toward character would be most important. However, Phelan states that the two points that move voice back towards style are the consequence of all the other points he makes, thus making an interesting claim: In showing the distance between voice and style, Phelan says, one also connects the two back together.

An explanation for this almost paradoxical idea might be made in Phelan's fourth point. Voice "exists as a trait of the speaker". This relates to style in that the style is also a trait of the speaker. Neither is possible without the speaker who is the instigator and maker of both. However the speaker is also what differentiates the style and voice, deciding what is pertinent in each situation.