How to develop your voice as a writer?

P.S How finding your style can make you a distinguished writer?

When I started writing, one of my biggest problems was how to find my style and voice as a writer. I realized very soon that I can’t write something worth reading if I failed to find my style. I believe that every writer should write in his own way. Your writing shows what you’re reading. It’s not bad though as every writer gains something from other writers. But if you’re not a distinguished writer, the chances of standing out are not greater.

Image on Unsplash by Mathilde Langevin

Writing is a journey that is so easy to pursue in twenty first century because of too many magazines and publications but there is more competition which of course, needs more effort. People often find their writings as product of their reading. Reading more makes you a better writer but how to read and be yourself in writing, is the actual problem. He who apes others will never be himself. Knowing your style and aptitude is the way to proceed in writing.

‘A writer’s voice is not character alone, it is not style alone; it is far more. A writer’s voice line the stroke of an artist’s brush- is the thumbprint of her whole person- her idea, wit, humor, passions, rhythms.’

~ Patricia Lee Gauch

Some tips for the betterment of your writing style are listed below.

• Choose the writer who’s the style you like. I love Louisa May Alcott (author of Little Women) as my favorite writer and prefer to contemplate her writing style. Muse why you are a big fan of writers' writing. If you started following each person you’d end up following nobody. Be selective. Use their writings to improve your writing. For example, Graham Greene in The Lost Childhood told his readers how a single writer changed the way he used to write. (Miss Marjorie Bowen’s Viper of Milan)

‘Imitation after imitation of Miss Bowen’s magnificent novel went into exercise books — stories of sixteen-century Italy or twelfth-century England marked enormous brutality and a despairing romaticism. It was as if I had been supplied once and for all with a subject.’

Graham Greene writes in The Lost Childhood

It’s okay to learn something from others but never give up on being creative.

• Ask yourself, ‘Where do you want to see your writing?’

Each of us has different purpose for writing. Some write for fame, others for money and some writers write because they feel like it. Know your biggest motive behind your writing. Specify why you’re choosing a particular category of writing. Be open to alternatives. Your favourite choice is not necessarily your real talent. Each of us has a talent which the others don’t have. The actual thing is to find your best skill. And for finding this we have to try each and every option we’ve got.

• Edit mercilessly. Extra details are discarded while editing and reediting. We, sometimes, unintentionally use other writer’s points of view/quotes in our writings. When you use other writer’s quotes/opinions more than necessary, your writing loses its touch. We love every word of ours but we write for an audience. Editing mercilessly is a way to get rid of the things which are a burden on your literary piece.
• Be creative by writing more. Creativity is more like a nurtured talent. When you try to be creative, you find your voice. Try to write the way you want to. The more you write your own stuff, the more distinguished you’d be. Write about any topic which comes in your mind. Write, write and write to gain expertise.
• Stop deluding yourself. It’s so easy to deceive yourself. You know where your writing stands and how much you are copying from other writer’s literary works. Sometimes writers steal words from other writer’s work and they end up as mediocre writer. Nobody knows where your writing stands and how much you are relying on other people’s work. Be honest to yourself and own your mistakes and flaws.
• Improve your observation power. We have a different way to think about different aspects of life. Illustrating the true scene demands deep observation. Your details would be less interesting and incomplete without enough attention. Ideas are everywhere you go, and in anything you see, the point is to take mental notes. From the time I started to pay heed to little things, my writing flourished.
• Keep a commonplace notebook with you everywhere you go.

Okay, ideas and thoughts can come from everywhere and at any time. Mental notes are easily forgotten. Jotting down inklings the very second they come in your mind is the best way to be mindful. Make time for writing about these ideas. Writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Mark Twain and many others used Commonplace books to have their ways. I proudly say I’m a writer because of my commonplace notebook.

‘Our expectations and experience shapes us. When we write we must find a voice that expresses our sentient self, not some idealized version of a cogent self, devoid of the exacting life-altering lessons that come with enduring a variety of experiences.’

Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls

Sometimes, you may have the same thoughts in your mind as other writers but the way you write them will help you in standing out. In the competitive world of the twenty-first century, merely producing other’s work shouldn’t be your choice. You have a talent of your own. Find and use it to have your way in writing!