Fine-Tune Your Writing Voice

When I used to take singing lessons, my music teacher would play a chord on the piano and I had to make sure that the note coming out of me sounded exactly the same. It was fairly easy for me since I’d been singing in church and school at a very young age.

However, it became more challenging when I would perform. Since my shows consisted of songs from major artists, I wanted to stay true to the song but also include my own personality. But let’s be honest, unless you have a lot of your own material and a huge following, the audience is going to want to hear their favorite songs sung as close to the original and if you do anything different, you better make sure you bring it.

Being a writer is different. In school you may study legendary writers in Eng. Literature like Hemmingway and Virginia Wolfe or in Screenwriting classes like Robert Benton and Francis Ford Coppola but when you write that essay, etc., it should have your tone.

But how do you find your own voice?

As my Bishop says frequently, “You ask good questions on Sunday morning”

To be honest, I’m not sure if I have the answer to that. I’m all about studying my genre, not to copy but to see what’s selling. And if I had to take a stab at an answer, it could be as simple as writing, writing and writing. But I’d also like to believe that a lot of writing is mixed with that author's individual personality and character traits.

I wonder what my writing would have been like if I‘d started much earlier? When I was growing up I was quiet and shy and I didn’t say much unless I was spoken to. But the older I became, the more vocal I became.

Now, instead of being quiet, I’m more introspective (I like to people watch) and instead of shyness, I use wit to break the ice. And some may even say I can be a little dark but that trait I try to keep hidden and only pull it out when I’m writing. Over the years, I’ve been able to unbolt a lot of my inner voices.

So what do you need to unlock to find yours?