Why You Need to Discover Your Writing Voice Instead of Finding It
This article is short. That’s because there is only one message to deliver, which is already reflected in its title. It is something I realized some time ago about a piece of writing advice I had heard many times, my perception of which — I realize now in retrospect — encouraged me to overthink the quality of my writing and even impeded my ability to just write.
This statement or advice is often given to aspiring writers. They are often told, “Find your voice.”
They are also told to imitate, practice, try and try again until they find their voice.
What I experienced when trying to embrace and follow this advice were the thoughts: What if I don’t find my voice? What if it sounds like somebody else’s?
A strange thing happened when I sat down and wrote without much thinking. Just letting myself be led by the ignition of an idea, or an initial sentence given by an exercise or something from my imagination. Seemingly out of nowhere, words appeared. And there was a voice in the words I wrote.
Now I realize, each of us has a voice. Since the day we were born. This voice inside every one of us changes over time. I discovered that my voice is sometimes sad, sometimes merry, sometimes utterly strange, at times understanding and kind. Fortunately, it is rarely mean, aggressive or attacking in any way (although this type of voice is useful time to time, when making the antagonists talk).
As I let myself consider what made me uncomfortable with the advice of finding one’s voice, I saw that I stumbled over the word find. Finding one’s voice somehow sounds to me like the searching should be outside of oneself. But we have already a voice. We might not know it, but it is there. It’s always been there.
Another problem I see with wanting to find something is the absoluteness of this statement. It sounds like if you find it, you have it and that’s it. But a writer’s voice is not static. Depending on the mood, on the genre, on the circumstances, that voice absorbs the external and internal world of a writer like a sponge, creating an incredible and always surprising cocktail of thoughts, emotions, and impressions.
So my advice to you and myself is to sit down, just write, and let’s discover our voices in the process. And Yes, read, go to the movies, talk to your loved ones and people you don’t know, go for a walk, engage in stimulating discussions, enjoy your meals, and absorb all this. Absorb also what you feel inside at any given moment. Observe your feelings without judging them. And then sit down and write again, and again. And then some more.
After some time, pick up what you have written and read it. Discover your voice in that particular moment from the recent or long gone past. Experience the feelings generated by this reading, as well as the anticipation of new creations to come from the near or far-off future. This will lead you to a new shade of your voice in the present moment.
From Cheerleading for Writers: Discover How Truly Talented You Are.
P.S. Big thanks to Tim Ebl for writing “Write For Yourself, They Say! But What Does It Really Mean?” With his hilarious, brilliant, and insightful article — where at the end he urges us “to do some self exploration” — he reminded me of my own discovery of why the message “to find one’s voice” sounded so intimidating and misleading to me, and what helped instead.
P.P.S. To keep in touch, subscribe to my newsletter, Optimist Writer.
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About the author:
Victoria is a writer, instructor, and consultant with a background in semiconductor physics, electronic engineering (with a Ph.D.), information technology, and business development. While being a non-gamer, Victoria came up with the term Self-Gamification, a gameful and playful self-help approach bringing anthropology, kaizen, and gamification-based methods together to increase the quality of life. She approaches all areas of her life this way. Due to the fun she has, while turning everything in her life into games, she intends never to stop designing and playing them.
