The Write Question #110: How can I find my writing voice?

have you ever struggled to find your writing voice that's the question I'll be addressing today in the right question I'm Daphne gray grant the publication coach here's a question from LEM Tomas a writer based in Paris France here's what she's asked via email I am NOT happy with my writing voice I'm not quite sure what's wrong with the way I sound now but I want the tone of my writing to be more sophisticated and more interesting do you have any suggestions for what I can do thanks for your question le Ann you didn't say what kind of writing you actually do but I guess it doesn't really matter voice is an issue that faces everyone whether they're novelists academics or non fiction writers I've written a detailed post about voice and I include the link below it intrigues me that you've used the word voice and tone they're actually quite different things as I say in the blog post a voice is like a record or CD it's steady consistent and memorable you don't ever mix up Beyonce with Madonna or Drake without an john tone on the other hand is like an individual song it can be sad upbeat romantic angry but it will still carry the voice of the performer to identify voice you need to be a really serious reader so my first tip for you is to read well and widely you say you want to be more sophisticated and interesting so identify which writers are the most interesting and sophisticated to you here's the deal many people assume that all the writing in the world can be arranged on a continuum from bad to good but it doesn't work that way because everyone has a different continuum basically we're talking about taste think of writing like food just because I love blue cheese and broccoli doesn't mean that you will what I like you might hate and what do you like I might hate so think about the writing that you find interesting and sophisticated and spend more time with it in fact I even suggest you copy it word-for-word this is a really good way to familiarize yourself with the techniques your favorite authors have used below I include a link to a blog post I've written on becoming a copycat as you copy consider the kinds of writing issues that contribute to voice for example vocabulary do you use long words or short ones is their origin largely French or anglo-saxon sentence length how long are your typical sentences do they tend toward the shortage range 14 to 16 words or are they on average longer do you favor concrete language or do you prefer to veer towards abstraction what sorts of verbs do you use do you like colorful and specific ones or do you favor state of being verbs like is and was what sorts of connectors and transitions do you use some writers put a lot of effort into connectors while other think it's not nearly so important do you have a deft hand with figurative language here I'm referring to metaphors similes personification and I purpley my list is not complete but it should give you a good starting point as you consider the tools and techniques you can use to develop your own voice finally let me wrap up with a quote from the Canadian born but US based fiction writer Laurie Lance ins aunt Luffy used to tell me that if I wanted to be a writer I needed a writers voice read should say and if you have a writer's voice one day it will shut out I can do that too Eliane developing or changing your voice it's not an easy process but it is possible it just takes persistence and determination [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: The Publication Coach

Views: 1,077

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Daphne Gray-Grant, Publication Coach, Writing, Editing, How-To

Id: 6TnOd9QsLlU

Length: 4min 26sec (266 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 04 2019