What is a Writing Voice?

Are you struggling to find a pace and rhythm in your writing? You are set out to write but your article looks like a mess? You have written amazing pieces but after polishing and editing them, they don’t look like your own! If this is a constant struggle in a your life, I can totally relate. When I first started out, I was a total chaos. I had no idea about my personal style of writing and the end result would look non-personal and aloof.

It wasn’t a problem that solved itself or was solved immediately. It took time and practice to understand my personal style and establish some base. It is not just you or me; every writer out in the world struggles with finding their own voice at some point in their writing career. So, what is it?

There are those who say that you have to write just the way you talk. That… is the worst advice for a writer. Manner of speech greatly differs from manner of writing; for one, the ample amount of grammatical mistakes that go unnoticed in a speech will be a disaster in writing material. Also, unlike in speech, you cannot leave your sentences unfinished.

You might be a content writer, article writer, journalist or fiction author, finding a writing voice is the most important first step you want to take. But truth be told, writing style doesn’t just come to you, it is developed over time and is always in making. Finding its meaning for you is where the journey starts.

Meaning

A writing voice isn’t some inner intuitive whisper, it is the writing style in which you present your piece. This means the choices you make from constructing sentences to laying out a scene or paragraph. Some authors prefer their sentences metaphoric, some like them long and poetic while others turn to crisp lines.
A writing voice, isn’t definitive. A writer can prefer to switch styles between two pieces, fuse more than one style into a single piece or carry over one style from material to material.

Writing voice is the style of writing that makes you feel conveyed in a way that you want to be conveyed!

For beginners, the people who have newly entered this profession, writing style needs to be adaptive. There has to be a sense of constant learning in writers for them to absorb writing styles from various works. Lay out the styles that you observe in any work and try writing something in a similar way. Does it make you feel comfortable and conveyed? When the answer to that question is a non-disruptive yes, that method can become a part of your writing style

For intermediate writers, which is someone with an experience between 6 to 12 years in this industry, writing voice is a work in progress. You have read many literature from fiction to non-fiction and absorbed some styles. Yet, there are times when your story or blog does not feel complete or ends up being in chaos. There is no need to stick to one palette at a time, be fearless and try more. Be adaptive!

For experts, writing voice comes more comfortably as they have experimented over their veteran years with material that works best between their pen (or keyboard) and their audience. There will always be notes involved, pieces written and a pattern to their rhythm. These are the people to take inspiration from.

Some Writing Styles and Author Accounts

In my exposure of reading, I have come across many writer narratives that talk about their writing voice. In fact, narration in itself is one of the many types of writing styles. In today’s blogging scenario, you will even come across blogs that adapt a conversational tone; asking questions and using shorthand is a part of such style.

I recently learned that there is a course in ‘memes’ which leads to a meme writer; then there are writers with a humorous tone. On the contrary, journalists take a more factual and statement approach to writing, best describing the picture they saw. Next, we come to authors who have written amazing stories and created entire fictional world in sheer imagination, simply based on their writing style. They often, if not always stick to the voice that best convey their character’s story.

My favorite is Rick Riordan’s series. Simply with his varying style of writing between Percy Jackson and Magnus Chase, a reader can deduce many characteristics. I once read a book on creative writing, Worlds of Wonder by author/scriptwriter David Gerrold, who had some amazing actionable advice and experience to share. He was constantly experimenting with various writing styles that he found intriguing and wrote a few books without ever mentioning words: be, to be, being, become and others that brought a sense of stillness to a scene.

If big shots like these writers can do it, you can too! It varies from writer to writer to adapt and practice a style of writing that has the potential to be their writing voice. There are some steps you can take and some practices you can incorporate as habits to walk that path.

In the next blog, let’s explore a way for beginners to develop their unique writing voice.

See you next blog!