Finding Your Voice as a Writer

New writers often spend considerable time imitating the style of writers they admire, which is a reasonable and common starting point, but a genuine writing voice tends to emerge only once that imitation is gradually set aside.

Finding a distinct voice usually has less to do with discovering new techniques and more to do with trusting the specific, ordinary observations that only that particular writer happens to notice, rather than reaching for what feels impressively literary.

This process cannot really be rushed. It tends to arrive slowly, through the accumulated practice of writing honestly and often, rather than through any single deliberate decision to sound like someone with a distinct and recognisable voice.

Reading widely, oddly enough, tends to help rather than hinder this process, since exposure to many different styles eventually makes it easier to notice which techniques genuinely suit a particular writer and which were only ever a borrowed, ill fitting habit.