Are you taking the plunge into National Novel Writing Month this year? Maybe you’ve participated in past years or plan to in the future. There’s something to be said for testing one’s writing mettle by writing 50,000 words in a month. It can be a great exercise in finding your writing voice. The less a writer thinks about how their writing sounds, the more it will sound like them. It goes without saying that a little advance planning can make the month’s progress more fruitful. After all, writing nearly 1,700 words a day leaves practically no time for brainstorming or editing.
If you are participating in NaNoWriMo, I would like to encourage you to sign up to get a motivational power-up from NaNoInspo. You’ll receive inspirational emails and links to blog posts throughout the month to add fuel to your writing output. Even better, NaNo winners will receive prizes! Martin McConnell writes prodigiously, and he’s extremely motivating.
Finding Your Writing Voice
An authentic writing voice draws readers in and keeps them coming back for more. Voice is akin to personality. It makes the writer’s presence on the page distinct from countless others. A strong voice does not draw attention to itself by shouting, but by being comfortable in its own skin. Just to be clear, voice is so much more than a writer’s style—unique word choices, sentence structures, and punctuation habits.
Read and Write. A Lot
Voice is an author unafraid of saying what must be said. But how to best go about finding your writing voice? Read and write. A helluva lot. Period. Voice emerges over time and continually evolves. So stop worrying if you sound like someone else. Do however worry about writing with conviction.
On the one hand, uncovering your writing voice is indeed about learning to be true to yourself so readers will connect with that honesty. But that’s only half of the voice equation. Think of the famous line from Hamlet when Polonius advises his son Laertes, “To thine own self be true.” He’s telling his son to stay true to his own interests because that is what truly allows a person to be better-equipped to take care of others.
In other words, write for yourself and to figure out the message that matters most to you, and your principles will draw the right readers who will feel taken care of by your message. It’s all a bit circular…
Keep Pressing Forward
Voice also comes into play when creating a fictional persona. The thought and speech patterns of any given character must ring true to that character’s background. Many authors write detailed character sketches even though the material will never appear in the novel. Writing and the process of developing a strong voice is a recursive process. The beautifully addictive cycle never ends.
Voice does not exist in a vacuum. Writers assume different voices depending on the writing task. The intended subject and audience play a part in shaping the ultimate form a message takes. In the composition field, this is known as the rhetorical triangle. While a strong voice may come more naturally and quickly to some, all writers can find their voice if they keep pressing forward—page, after page, after page.
Be Gloriously You
Go forth and kick ass with your writing voice. Take no prisoners. Be authentically and gloriously you. Aim to let your words become somebody’s literary drug of choice.
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This post originally appeared as a guest post on My Inner Chick. You may also like reading this author interview with Martin McConnell or this post on Lessons Learned from National Novel Writing Month.
Has finding your writing voice been easy or more of a struggle? What has and hasn’t helped you on that journey?
Please share responsibly. Jeri Walker, 2018.
Very inspirational, Jeri. I agree that our voice comes through over time and is constantly developing. Rhetorical triangle—such a cool term.
Lisa, yeah me and the rhetorical triangle go way back 😉
Haha, I’m not surprised! Love it. 😉
True and genuine information, Jeri. My voice is what I strive to find every single day I write. When something comes out too forced, we know it right away. And it is our duty to edit it and rewrite it until it sounds like us.
Alessandro, great to see you! Nothing is worse than a forced writing voice.
Loved this Jeri. You did a great job of explaining ‘voice’. 🙂 x
Thanks, Debby. Voice can be illusive at times, but the search for it is most definitely worth it.
I enjoy the annual challenge of NaNo and hope that I improve each year. Voice – I keep working at. Great post. Jeri, so I’m going to check out your suggestions.
Roland, Martin is truly inspirational. I think you’ll like his posts.
‘Voice is akin to personality’…I agree with you Jeri. A writer’s personality does speak through his words. Is there any need to find that voice? I have never tried that yet it stands out so clearly that I can’t camouflage it even if I make an effort to tone it down.
Balroop, for some writers voice comes quite naturally, as it does with you. Others take a longer to find it. It’s a great journey nonetheless.
While I’m not on the verge of writing a novel, what strikes me as especially good advice is finding your voice by writing for yourself. If I ever venture into this, you’ll be the first person I call.
Ken, it can be hard to filter out possible audiences when writing creatively, but it really does help.
Great post, Jeri! In every writer’s words, we witness their character.
Denise, and so much can be read in and between those lines as a reflection of character!
I did NaNo a couple of years ago and found it worthwhile, although I probably won’t do it again for sometime.
Such a good article about finding voice, Jeri. It surely does take writing and writing and reading and discovering what you like to read.
RoseMary, like you, I NaNoed once, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever NaNo again 😉
Great inspiration, Jeri! I know I’ve struggled in the past with certain character voices, and I’ve had to rewrite chapters once I finally found it.
Loni, that’s great though that you’ve gone back and found the right voice for those chapters.
Keep pressing forward is good advice. Even it seems to be going slowly, as is the case for me right now.
Donna, yet even slow progress is progress. You’ve got this!
Your words “be authentic” say it all.
In high school, I took a class called – 500 words a day. So I had to write at least that much everyday. And at that time in my life, that seemed huge. But I know I’m a better writer now because of it. I should surely write now more than I do. I’m not sure I could get up to 50,000 – but somewhere more in that direction would be good.
Erica, I’m with you in that I’m not sure of pulling off 50,000 words in a month, but I know that even writing a half hour a day can result in 250-500 words for me. Over the course of an entire year, that really adds up.
Wow, 50,000 words in a month sounds all but impossible to me. But I’m sure if I did it, I’d be a lot closer to finding my voice by the end! “Be gloriously you” – I love that.
Meredith, fast and furious writing can be a great way to fully unleash one’s writing voice.