Simple Ways to Find Your Writing Voice
Not long ago, a listener wrote to ask how he could find his voice as a writer. I was perplexed. Your voice is just something you have, no? Sort of like your elbows or a social security number.
But then I talked to Emma Straub, a fabulous novelist and my guest on this week’s Write About Now Podcast, and I realized that I was thinking about this voice thing all wrong.
Your voice is something that comes with time, hard work, and much trial and error. It’s also not something you set out to find. It finds you.
The good news: Your voice is always there, or else it wouldn’t be, I dunno, yours. And it also evolves and changes over time. The bad news: Few of us are willing to let that authentic voice shine through. It takes genuine courage and a leap of faith to say what you want to say in the way you want to say it, without judgment, fear of your peers laughing at you, or your inner critic chattering away.
In Emma’s case, it took several failed novels before she had the confidence to get out of her way and just write what was on her mind
“The first [novel] was a Donna Tartt imitation, the second was a murder mystery, and the third was kind of a fantasy novel,” she told me from her Brooklyn apartment, where she lives with her husband, child, and three cats (one of which makes a surprising appearance in the podcast). “It was like I was throwing darts.”
But after having a kid, opening up a bookstore in Brooklyn, and living her life a little, she found a groove.
“The thing that really set me free was that I let my sense of humor be upfront,” Emma says. “Some people write to tell readers about something that they understand; I’m much more interested in writing to understand.”
So here then are a few additional hacks about finding your voice.
Let it find you by writing often and about a lot of different things.
Be yourself, even if that feels awkward and uninteresting.
Borrow someone else’s voice you admire until it starts to become your own.
Read a lot
Realize that only you can speak your truth—no one else.
Oh, and listen to Emma and other successful writers talk about their process and struggles. I find that immensely inspirational.