How to Find Your Writers Voice

An author's writing voice or the way they come across on the page can be your most effective tool when it comes to crafting your novel.

When it comes to novels about vampires there are hundreds if not thousands of stories and the plots sometimes are all the same. the only difference is you. Your voice will be what brings readers into your story. 

There are some authors that are identifiable just by their writer's voice alone.

• Edgar Allen Poe 
• Mary Shelley
• James Joyce
• Jane Austen 

Finding your writer's voice will help you craft a novel that is authentically you.

Steps to Finding Your Writers Voice

Take a look at the books you've read

Are there any whose voices stand out to you?

What about the voice draws you into the story?

Is it scholarly, cynical, authoritative, sarcastic, poetic? What is the tone of the overall story?

Lead by their examples when it comes to your novel and try to emulate the voice of the stories you are most drawn to.

Start with writing short stories 

Before you jump into that 80,000-word novel try out writing some short stories. This will give you practice writing dialogue, character development, and plot progression as well as finding your writer's voice. 

Short stories are sometimes overlooked in the writing community, but they are a great tool to not only practice effective storytelling, but they themselves can be great stories you can save for a collection release somewhere down the line. 

Read

It's an unspoken rule for writers that the best way to improve the craft of writing is by reading and reading and reading. 

There are plenty of benefits to reading such as:

• Mental Stimulation
• Less Stress
• Can Improve Sleep Quality
• Strengthens Your Memory
• Improvs Your Vocabulary
• Improvs Your Focus and Concentration
• Improvs Your Writing Skills
• Increases Your Imagination

Those who read often are better writers, and the more author's voices you take in you'll be able to discover which ones call out to you and your own will come out as you write without you having to think about it too much. 

Gather Opinions  

If you're not sure what your tone of writing sounds like or if you're being consistent with it then use a lifeline and phone a friend. 

Simply asking someone to read your work and have them pay attention to the tone of the story is the easiest way to know if you're coming off in your writing in the way that you are intending to. 

Be yourself 

Imagine yourself sitting around the campfire on a crisp summer evening, your audience is around you, wrapped in blankets and hoving around the flames. Close enough to feel the warmth, but far enough away not to singe off their eyebrows.

All eyes are on you as they've just asked you to tell a story.

It can be any story you want to tell whether it be a romance with forbidden lovers torn apart by feuding kingdoms or an adventure in which each member around the fire has to collect a special key in order to unlock the door to riches guarded by an ancient mummy curse.

How would you tell this story to them? What tone would you use to watch each of them edge forward to the very tip of their log as to not miss a single word you say. 

That's the tone you should be telling your story in. 

It's your voice that readers are coming to hear through the pages of your novel so be as authentic to you as you can. 

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Finding your writer's voice is essential to crafting who you are as a writer, but it's also something that should come naturally to you as if you were telling a story to yourself or a close friend. 

As authors, we're letting readers inside our hearts when they turn the pages of our novels so we owe them as much of the true us as we can give through our voice. 

Best of luck and keep writing.

with love, 

B.K. xo

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