Finding Your Voice As A Writer
Keeping your writing fresh, engaging, and uniquely yours
There are countless writers in the world. There are countless types of writers. The same might not be sad for writing itself; many writers heavily draw from — some would say steal — others’ work. I don’t mean plagiarize per se, but rather copy voice. Establishing your own voice will set you apart as a writer.
Avoid Cliches Like The Plague
See what I did there? Clichés may be cute, but the addition of even one can drag your piece down in both quality and intrigue. Hollywood remakes aside, people don’t want the same story again and again. Recognition has less of an impact than you might expect; aim for the element of surprise.
Many writers use clichés when they want to use a metaphor or simile. Well, why not create your own? Doing so adds a bit of humor to your work. Instead of “spoiled rotten,” how about “as funky as a carton of eggnog left out after your last holiday party”? Much more descriptive, and also ew.
Play With Structure You Should
Okay, maybe don’t write like Yoda speaks. However, you might draw inspiration from TV mastermind Joss Whedon. The clever scripts he gave characters on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel,” and “Firefly” inspired college courses on its wordplay and unusual sentence construction. Instead of “What?! Curse you! I knew you’d betray me!” it’s “Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!”
Even if you’re not writing dialogue or speech, you might try combining sentence elements in different ways. Omit as many “baby words” as possible to reduce wordiness. Make good use of transitions and avoid churning out a list of similarly structured sentences. For example, instead of “The doctor said her condition was temporary. However, it would be agonizing. She was relieved but also worried,” try “She was relieved to hear the doctor say her condition was temporary, but worried by his caveat that it would be agonizing.” See how I also used a not-so-basic word to describe the flow of action and omit the confusing pronoun “it.” Speaking of…
Study Vocabulary
There are more than 170,000 currently used words in the English language. How many do you know? How many do you regularly use? Answer: not enough.
Finding the perfect word can be a challenge due to a simple aspect of vocabulary: connotation. Connotation is the difference between a crowd and a mob. Choose wisely: you want to avoid creating the wrong impression, and you also can make a word’s connotation work to your advantage.
In addition, as I illustrated above, you can cut down on the number of words by using one word that has a more complex meaning. For example, the word “ameliorate” means “to make something bad better” — five words down to one! “Belie” means “to fail to give a true impression of.” That brings you down from eight words to one!
The more tools you have in your diction toolkit, the fresher and more surprising your writing will be. And believe me, you’ll find words you really love that will contribute to your voice.
Rachel Wayne is a professional nonfiction writer on a number of topics, including natural science, culture, literature and film, feminism, politics, mental health, and entrepreneurship. She also is a playwright and screenwriter.
