Learn and strengthen your writing voice
What do we mean when we talk about voice? How to define, develop, and not be afraid to use yours.
For many of us, just getting words down on a regular basis is a huge accomplishment. Generating story ideas and developing them is the bulk of our writing practice.
So when aspiring writers hear vague, jargon-y terms like “voice,” it might instill some trepidation. You might think you know what it means, but can’t quite put it into words. What the heck is a writing “voice”?
Or you know what it means, but have no idea whether you are writing in a consistent voice or not, let alone whether your voice appeals to readers: I hope people “get” me. I hope I sound like “a real writer.”
Maybe you are writing every day, and to think more broadly in terms of who you are as a writer, what you want to say, what you have already said, and so on, is too big-picture for you: I’m just going to keep writing and figure all this voice stuff out later.
Maybe it’s intimidating to have to consider who is reading your work and how they are interpreting it: I can’t worry about how I sound — what matters is whether the story is interesting, right?
