When you read a Hemingway book, you’ll know it’s Hemingway without even looking at the cover, because his straightforward, unadorned prose has become synonymous with his name. Same goes for any of the other literary greats. That’s because they’ve cultivated a strong and unique voice that separates their writing from any other writer’s.
In a technical sense, your writer’s voice is a combination of your writing style, perspective, tone, syntax, vocabulary, themes, and punctuation. But it’s way more than that. It’s how you see the world and how you translate that vision onto paper. You’re distilling yourself into the pages.
Every writer has a voice, no matter what medium they use. Voice permeates through writing; it can be sensed in the way you build your narrative and how you create emotion and meaning. With a well-developed voice, your stories will stand out and take a life of their own.
Developing Your Writer’s Voice
Your voice is as important as the plots and characters you create. Without it, anything you’ve written will sound sterile and empty. The stronger your voice is, the more human, relatable, and understandable it feels. Separate yourself from the other writers by following the tips below!
1. Describe yourself.
What three adjectives describe you best as a writer? This simple exercise can help you decide on what kind of voice you likely have.
As I said, writing is personal. Your voice is identical or close to your real voice, the one you use when chatting with friends or family. It’s not something you can completely fake. Your real voice will always find ways to bleed into your writing unless you find a way of switching personalities or minds (or maybe if you’re a robot).
I’ve always seen myself as playful, awkward, and easy-going. It shows in my writing. I make a few jokes, avoid too many stuffy words, and generally write conversational pieces. That’s just in my blog posts though.
In writing fiction, I express another side of me. My writing’s more brash, straightforward, and clipped. So you see, your voice will adapt depending on what you’re writing, but it will always be a reflection of you on the page.
There’ll always be similarities between all of your works, in whatever form they are. Here are a few guiding questions to make it easier to describe yourself:
- What’s your most prominent physical trait? Mental? Personality-wise? And so on.
- What do other people think of you? Don’t be afraid to ask!
- Who do you remind other people of?
Your answers to these questions will set you up with the core characteristics of your writing voice. Practice writing with them. As you practice more, you’ll find more characteristics you want to add in or remove.
2. Check out your writing idols.
They say imitation’s the highest form of flattery. People often start new interests, careers, and activities by mimicking their idols. Writing’s no exception.
It’s either a conscious or subconscious decision to emulate your favorite writers. You imitate aspects of their voice and build upon them. In the beginning, It’s going to be difficult to separate what’s yours and what you’re simply copying, but as you develop your craft, you’ll soon fuse their voices into your own, creating a one-of-a-kind blend.
And don’t be concerned about stealing—unless you can emulate them perfectly, you’ll never be able to fully replicate another writer’s voice. Or, again, unless you’re a robot.
When I write fantasy fiction, I often notice myself using phrases and sentence constructions that are close to what I’ve read from my favorite author’s works. It can be both an awesome and irritating feeling.
Things to keep in mind:
- Check out the similarities and differences between your idol’s writing and yours.
- What do you like about their writing?
- Research their writing journey. You might find further inspiration.
When you find something you hate or love about a particular book or writer, ask yourself why you feel that way. Examining the why’s of what you feel can lead to a clearer picture of who you are as a writer. Maybe the author’s style grates against your own, or you both have similar tastes in humor, and so on.
3. Write freely.
Finding your writer’s voice is a process that involves writing a lot. There’s no way around it. You’ll only develop your craft if you keep writing and testing over and over again.
To develop as a well-rounded writer, you’ll have to train and vary your writing. Use different writing styles. Write in different genres and POVs. Test different techniques and so on.
As you do all these things, your writer’s voice will slowly develop until you’re no longer consciously thinking of how you write. It’ll come spontaneously and naturally.
Always test your limits as a writer. The more you explore and improve your capabilities in the craft, the more defined your voice is and the more solid you write.
A few things you can do:
- Write in your least favorite styles and genres.
- Write one thing today, then write the opposite tomorrow.
- Mix and match different styles and techniques.
Whenever you write, examine your own style. Check out the similarities and dissimilarities between your writing. These things are rarely coincidences. They might even be seeds of your personality being expressed on paper. For example, a certain phrase you keep using on paper might be something you regularly say in real life.
4. Keep reading.
Improvement always includes accumulating more information. The more you know, the better you’ll perform. And what’s a better way of gaining info than reading?
Read authors you both hate and admire. Read genres and styles you don’t like. Read anything and everything. Don’t limit yourself to only reading the kinds of things you write; you won’t develop a strong voice that way. Plus, you’ll miss out on some pretty good reads.
Absorb as much as you can from the things you read. That’s just the first step, though. Information is only useful when applied, so don’t forget to practice what you learn from the things you read.
But there’s a lot of books out there and not enough time to read them all. Unless you’re a robot capable of storing libraries worth of books in your head! Are you?
How do you know where to start and what to read? Here are a few tips:
- Write down your favorite books, authors, and genres. Read what’s similar to them. Then go for dissimilar ones.
- Ask for recommendations from friends and families, especially the ones with a different reading sense from you.
- Join writing and reading communities. They’re bursting with book suggestions and the like.
The more you read, the more you’ll understand how writers utilize their writing voices, which can lead to insights on how you can distinguish your own writing.
5. Edit your work.
Good writers always spend as much time editing as they do writing. If you don’t care enough about your work and leave it in its first draft, you’ll never develop a distinctive voice.
Editing and revising your work is where you discover most of your errors and weaknesses. Ignore that and you’re building a flimsy foundation for your craft.
Editing is also an opportunity to study how you write. From your common writing habits to common errors, editing will let you gain insights on who you are as a writer. It’s your writing, so get intimate with it.
Even if you’ve got an editor around, always consider editing as part of your process. Think of it like cooking. When you’re almost done, you’ll normally check and adjust heat, flavor, and amount to make sure that the food’s going to taste good. Editing’s a way to make sure that your readers will understand and connect with your writing.
Here are a few things you need to check during the editing stage:
- Is there anything consistent to your writing? It might be the core of your writer’s voice.
- Are your sentences clear and are you using your words correctly? Is your meaning being efficiently conveyed?
- Are the technical aspects of your writing on point? Spelling? Subject-verb agreement? (It’s ok to take liberties in writing as long they’re effective.)
- What are the similarities between your works? The sentence structures? The tone? Or is it something else?
When you edit your work, you’re cutting off or changing the parts you don’t like. This leaves you with a version that most shows your writing voice.
Don’t hesitate on taking out parts that don’t add to your writing. They’re not losses but necessary revisions to reveal who you are as a writer.
Writing Voice vs. Character Voice
Your writing voice is expressed in two main ways: your narration, and your story’s point-of-view. It’s your unique usage of words, punctuation, syntax and the general view of your narrative.
It may take the reader a few books or re-reads to identify what your writing voice is. The more they become familiar with you, the more they’ll make sense of your voice.
A character’s voice is more concentrated. It’s the recognizable tone that you give your characters. By giving them different personalities, habits, speech patterns and other characteristics, you’re developing the character’s voice into something unique and easily recognizable by the reader.
No two characters should be alike in a story. When readers can’t identify who is speaking, it’ll leave your story confusing and bland. It’s good to create contrasting characters who emphasize each other’s voice. Make one loquacious and another tight-lipped and so on.
Find Your Voice
There’s a lot to writing that you can only achieve through experience. Be the John/Jane Wick of writing—a person who shows focus and sheer will in their craft.
There’s no shortcut or cheats to developing your voice. Even writers with decades of experience are still developing theirs. So take your time and slowly flesh out who you are as a writer and what you want to put in your writing. If you’re not being yourself in writing, you’ll burn yourself out.
Have you noticed yourself buying a book just because it’s written by your favorite author? And you know you’ll like it without even reading one word? That’s the power of a strong writing voice.
Once your unique voice emerges, it becomes your indelible stamp in the world of literature, drawing current and future fans to you. It’s a huge part of making writing a sustainable career. So get started!
Have you found your writing voice? Is there an author’s voice you try to emulate? Share your experiences in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- How to Write Character Flaws: The Importance of Imperfect Characters
- Writing Emotion in Fiction: 3 Powerful Methods with Examples
- What Are Filter Words? How to Find and Remove Them for Better Writing
- How to Journal: 8 Tips for Getting the Most from Your Writing Time
Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
