Dec 23 2008
A Surefire Way to Find Your Writer’s Voice
When there are many writers writing on a similar subject, what makes one piece stand out from the rest? The content? Very rarely.
It is the writer’s voice. The piece that’s more compelling is the one in which the writer has truly found her voice.
When you say you can’t write, it’s not that you can’t write. You can write if you can speak. You can write if you can talk.
It’s just that you haven’t found your writer’s voice. You may have stifled it over the years by trying to imitate the voice of your favourite writer. You may have stifled it by worrying too much about style, vocabulary or grammar.
So, how do you free your stifled writer’s voice?
- Relax before you start writing. The more relaxed you’re, the better your chances are of finding your voice.
- Don’t tell yourself you are going to write. Tell yourself you’re going to talk to a friend. Better still imagine you are going to write a letter to a close friend.
- When you start writing, don’t think of anything. Just focus on the voice you hear in your head. Go on and put down whatever the voice says.
Don’t expect results when you write. Tell yourself that this is just an exercise to discover your hidden writer’s voice. Do this every day for five or ten minutes and rest assured that that you’ll begin hearing your writer’s voice louder and louder, clearer and clearer.
