Find Your Writing Voicefeatured

I’ve written on and off since I was a kid. I did a lot of writing for school and then a lot of technical writing (sometimes I still do) for work. I only started writing fiction consistently about six years ago- it was a far cry from the technical writing I’d done and my lack of skill writing fiction was obvious.

For the longest time I struggled with my writing voice – over and over I would read great works and attempt to copy those writing styles I loved so much. When writing I would do OK copying for a while, but then I couldn’t create a full piece in someone else’s “voice.”

I grew as a writer by studying good techniques and with practice, and reading others works, so my writing did improve. But a couple years ago I read book written in a voice that wasn’t quite like any other. It was very obvious that this was the writer’s voice- and I loved it, it was one of the most authentic writing voices I’ve ever read. It made me realize, I don’t need to write fancy descriptions and try to impress readers with metaphors and use outrageous details – I just need to write in my voice, just like I’d tell a friend (and then maybe edit a bit later and clean it up).

Writing comes much easier now, scenes and explanations don’t feel forced, the descriptions and details are distinctive, yet more comprehensible, each sentence and paragraph has more flow, the whole story comes together much better.

I still have a long way to go as a writer, and I’m sure my style isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I feel much more confident and excited about moving forward with my writing.