Finding Your Writer's Voice

Hello lovelies, misfits, weirdos and fellow outcasts. I hope you are well and doing your best as always. I am not a big fan of AI being used for writing other than an editing tool. The one thing about AI writing I dislike is how monotonal the voice is. It is all the same voice, just clones upon clones; collective voices taken from other people's work. The voice lacks creative flare, and the pain and suffering that is the human existence.

Your writer's voice is unique to you. If you are trying to find your voice organically, I hope this article helps you in your writing journey.

First, it is worth acknowledging that we are not our favourite authors, and although they inspire us, it is important to create your own writing style. So let go of the idea that you'll be the next Shakespeare or Tolkien because you won't. You will be you.

In my experience, reading comes hand in hand with the craft of writing. I think it is important to have an expansive reading list that changes genre, theme, and sometimes form with each text you read. I like to think of it as a market research, because this is how we become inspired.

Writing has its rules that can bend slightly but not break, like Captain Barbossa says 'more like guidelines,' explore while finding your voice. You need to know what you style you like, what voice you like to write in, and what type of readership you writing for. How to capitvate a readership, and keep them hooked. The only way you can do this... and you wouldn't believe it - is reading.

So get building that personal library of yours (and head to the Online Book Club on my page). Oh, and don't forget the bookmarks.

Secondly, as a writer you should be aware that there are four main writing forms. These are:

1. Fiction (prose)
2. Non-Fiction
3. Poetry
4. Script (theatre/screen-play)

Obviously, within these forms, you have different styles of poetry, like a haiku or a limerick. Non-fiction, of course, covers journalism, press-releases, speeches, all that juicy stuff. Then there're the genres: horror, sci-fi, romance, comedy, tragedy, fantasy, action and adventure, and then there's sub-genres. The list is bloody endless.

Which is great for you. You're spoilt for choice, and you're not bound to one or every. You can choose where to write as you creatively go. Always read examples. I'm not going to write a threater script without having read a few examples in a couple of different genres. I need to know what readers are looking for, like I said - market research.

So - now that we've done a bit of 'light reading', we've considered the forms available to us and acknowledged the many genres there are out there. Let's get writing!

As always, I recommend a freewriting session, where you write non-stop until the timer goes off. No rephrasing sentences or editing, just straight up writing. This is actually your subconscious taking over and is great for warming your creative juices. I normally do about 6-7 minutes on the timer. I'm not sure why, but for me it seems to be the perfect time.

Then, read your work aloud. It may sound like utter gibberish the human mind often is, but you'll have discovered your voice. You will know by reading aloud your work what works for your voice and what doesn't. After this, do a writing exercise.

Prompt: Write a short story/poem using all nine words -

• Problem
• Dull
• Falsify
• Window
• Attraction
• Protrait
• Graduate
• Waterfall
• Hammer

Once again, re-read your work out loud. Edit, edit and edit. Write again. Can you see your writers' voice coming through yet?

If not, another way to discover your voice is writing a duologue/dialogue piece. A duologue is a conversation between two characters (usually actors on stage), so with that in mind; write a dialogue piece based on two characters who are stuck in a room. Have a conversation with yourself. Don't worry, everyone in the writers' room is crazy.

Keep going until you have found your voice. Do you think I just woke up one day and found it after one writing session? No. It takes time. As with any craft. There will be moments where you will compare your work to others, thinking you're not as good as a writer as everybody else. I want you to know all writers feel this, and comparison is the biggest thief of joy. The only way to become good at something is to practise.

So get writing my loves!

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Stay safe, stay hopeful and stay blessed :)