How Do I Find My Voice as an Author?
By Kevin OkabeAnyone can write a book; what’s truly important is if the reader can connect to the words on the page. And for that to happen, the writer must have their own voice.
The greats of literature, the Hemingways, the Harper Lees, the George Orwells, what do they all have in common? They all have their own unique voice as authors. The way they develop narrative arcs and how they develop characters vastly differ between each of them. So, you may be asking, how do I find my own voice as an author? Well, although there is no one size fits all task list to finding your own voice, there are a few things to keep in mind when chasing this elusive ambition.
Be prepared to suck
First off, and this might be something that you may not want to hear; be prepared to suck for a while. You have to understand that for the first few years of your writing, it will not be that good. Simple as that. But that’s okay; that’s just part of the process. Just like developing any new skill, it’s going to take years to develop your own style, and fine-tune and hone that style, but eventually, you will develop your own voice if you’re willing to work hard enough at it. You’re going to need to write. A lot. Just as with everything else in life, the more you practice something, the better you become at it. The only way you can find your own voice as an author is to push through the challenges and all the self-doubt that comes with being a writer. We can’t all be J.D Salinger or William Golding and catch lightning in a bottle on our debut novels. We have to be willing to suck for the first few years.
Find inspiration from the greats
Secondly, get inspired by the greats; take ideas from them, study what it is about the way they write that makes you feel connected to the words on the page. How do the characters interact with each other? How do they build suspense? What is it about the way that they write that gets your heart thumping and your fingertips eagerly awaiting each turn of the page? Remember to look far and wide. Study Wilde and Austen, but don’t forget to read lesser known and more contemporary authors too. Study them and put some of their ideas into your own work. Let's consider a musical reference for a moment; The Beatles were heavily influenced by blues great Chuck Berry, but did The Beatles sound like Chuck Berry? Not really. But they took inspiration from him and developed their own sound around their influences. In a similar vein of studying songwriting structure from listening to The Beatles, we can learn from the great authors that a seventh chord resolves nicely to a major seventh chord. But I digress.
Have something to say
Finally, to find your own voice as an author, you need to have something to say. In order to have something to say you need to live life. Have experiences, feel the sting of love, backpack through Europe on your own for two months. You need to be passionate enough about what you’re writing that when a reader interprets your words, they can feel those words lift off the page and paint a bright vivid scene in their mind. In order to write words with any meaning behind them, you have to feel connected to what you’re writing about. It’s important to stay true to yourself. If you write something that you think everyone is going to like, you’re going to write something that no one is going to love.
Final thoughts
Still feeling stuck? Check out the book “On Writing” by Stephen King, there’s all kinds of juicy tidbits in there related to finding inspiration, developing characters, and writing tips by one of the masters of literature. For more tips and ideas on writing, check out our blog post on Narrative arcs, and character development. Lastly, be patient. Nothing good ever came easy.
