Finding Your Voice as a Writer

Your Life is a Story

When you began your career as a writer, the first step is to find out what you're going to write about. What are your interests? What are your hobbies? What are your goals? Who is your target audience? Is anyone interested in the topics you're interested in? These are a few questions you might ponder.

As writers, we will all go through a season or more, of trying different ideas and topics. Even to the point where we're writing on topics that are not really interesting to us, but might give us a fair amount of readers. This can be a daunting task believe me. When this happens, writing becomes more of a task than a creative piece of enjoyment. Of course, you won't be bouncing off the walls in a state of ecstasy, but a few writers are, but you should never feel like... ugh, this again. Writing should be a time that you look forward to not a time that you dread.

Finding your voice can be a bit challenging for someone who is well-versed in many areas. They've done a lot, they've seen a lot, they have traveled different places, they've had several jobs; these type of people have a lot to say. It doesn't mean they are an expert or guru, it just means they have a lot of stories and have many topics they can discuss based on experience. On the other extreme, it can be challenging for someone who has a very tight comfort zone. Their life is a simple routine, they don't veer too far, they live a very humbled and ordinary life. This doesn't mean that these writers can't develop memorable characters and a powerful story, they may just have to work a bit harder to get the imagination flowing. But these individuals tend to do very well with non-fiction writing.

If you are a well-versed individual and you have ideas coming in from every direction, and you want to write about everything, calm down. You can take a few elements of your life and bring them into your story. For instance, if you worked at a bar, and you heard tons of stories and matters of the heart, and your desire is to write a romance novel, and you've traveled many places, have your setting centered around a place where you've traveled. If you had a steamy affair with a pilot, let him (his character) be a customer in the bar. Have your bar set in Paris. Think of different ways to bring elements of your life into your story. Remember, to change the names, and even the dates can be changed to a different period in time.

Another tip to finding your voice, especially if you want to write a story centered around past events, is to buy a newspaper or magazine during memorable events in time; such as, the presidential elections, the inauguration, war, Christmas season, extreme weather occurrences, etc. Why? If you want to write a story that happened during the time of 9/11, or when the president was elected, it is good to have evidence of the day frozen in time, rather than searching for articles via the internet. You may not wish to write about 9/11, but want to know what else was happening that day to add to your story. These are different ways of finding your voice and Thinking Out the Box

How long can you talk about your topic? Is it book worthy or blog worthy? You might want to write a book about dog grooming, but would it be a book or more like a pamphlet? You might want to write a fantasy book, but do you have enough information and imagination to write a full novel or novella? If you want to write a novel and not a novella, think of how you can add different elements of your life to your book. However, don't simply focus on word count, but rather write a compelling story.

Once you have found your voice, give your audience a chance to find you. A lot of times, writers can get discouraged when our work isn't getting read or read very little. My advice, write a good novel and leave it alone. Write another good novel and leave it alone as well. We wear many hats as writers. Of course you want to market your book, and do all the things necessary for your writing business, and after all of that is done, leave it alone and write your next book.

Don't worry about the numbers. Don't focus solely on the number of readers. There are plenty of books in the market, that didn't do well until its 5^th year or so. Write a compelling book and leave it alone. Whether it be fiction or non-fiction, give good information, great sources, and leave it alone. There are times in our career when we will focus on the numbers, but as a beginning writer, just write a remarkable story with memorable characters and then write another one.

Most writers want to earn a living as a writer, naturally so. But if you are constantly focusing on the numbers, you aren't focusing on your voice. Many would say, “Since I don't have the numbers, maybe this isn't the right voice.” Not necessarily. Give your audience time to find your voice. As quiet as it's kept, there are some writers who are above their time. A perfect example would be, The Lord of the Rings, written in 1937 by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Finding your voice comes in two stages. Finding your voice or niche, and allowing your audience to find it as well.

Until next time, keep writing.

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