Find Your Voice
Writing is tough work. Writing well, that is. And now that more and more people are being asked to communicate personally in blogs and using social media, many are struggling, and not just with their spelling and grammar. If you’re responsible for a blog and finding it difficult, maybe it’s because you don’t really know who is writing it.
If you have something to communicate, be it business or personal, you need to let your readers know who is writing to them. It’s not as easy as you might think, but it’s the crucial element that will help potential readers decide if they want to continue reading your work. Even though we’re talking about writing, not speaking, we call it the “voice.”
The first step might sound like pop psychology, but it’s important. You can’t move on, you can’t do your best work, until you work out the essential “who am I?” Take me, for example. I’ve always known who I was, but it’s taken years for me to let it come back to the surface, to really show thru. For way too long I’ve wrestled with what I thought I should be rather than who I really am, and that bottled up my writing. I tried to be “the leader”, but that didn’t match what my inner self really wanted to say or do.
Who am I? I’m that smart alec at the back of the classroom, quick with a funny remark, but always on topic. I’m the one that keeps the teacher on her toes, that asks the questions that aren’t covered by the syllabus. I’m that one that leaps ahead and asks, “if that’s so, then . . .”
When I gave up trying to be the authority, the expert, I found that what was left was this wiseacre, and that I liked him. I’ll also be quick to point out that I’m not a troll. A troll is someone who is out to stir up trouble intentionally, who delights in ticking people off. He rarely, if ever, has anything useful to further the debate. The troll isn’t useful, but the smart alec can be. With that voice I can prod, cajole, and ask, “if that’s so, then . . .” and lead you along a path of the possible.
What about you? You need to find who you are and decide if that voice, your true voice will work for the project that’s in front of you. If it won’t, you’ll have to work like an actor to build another voice that will work for your project. When I work for clients I typically start from a review of who the intended audience is, then move on to the corporate culture of the company, along with what the client is trying to achieve. Rarely do I resort to a vanilla business voice. I look for areas to show excitement, humor, and connection that’s appropriate to the audience and material. And once I’ve found the voice that’s right for that project, I’ll make notes or create example text I can use in the future, or hand off to the client.
Then once you’ve found or selected the voice for the project, you’ll need to select material that fits the voice and review the content you’ve created to make sure that voice comes thru. The best way to do that is to avoid starting work just before your deadline. Write your first draft, then let it sit for a day or so. When you return to it, you’ll have fresher eyes to review it, and see if you’ve been true to your selected voice.
And finally, once you have identified that voice, free it and see what comes out. When actors develop characters, one of the best ways for them to build dimension and depth is to participate in improvisation. Often the actor will discover things they didn’t conscientiously know about the character by what pops out of their mouth during these exercises. You’ll likely find out interesting things when you give yourself a topic, then turn that voice loose – but it will take practice. The more you write and the more regularly you write, the stronger your writing voice will become.
Like I said, hard work. But you can use the methodical approach I’ve described above, boiled down to these four points.
- Ask yourself “who am I?” and accept the answer you give yourself.
- You can have more than one voice. Who is it that’s writing for THIS project? A skilled novelist, for example, can adopt more than one voice.
- Focus your work so you can let that voice be clear. Let your copy sit and come back to it to see if you can hear that voice.
- Once you find that voice, turn it loose. You might be surprised at what you create – and your readers will likely find someone they’re interested in.
Why worry about all this? Because a distinctive voice creates interest. If you want your message to be carried to your target audience, you’ll need it to be interesting. Even if you’re just posting 140 characters in tweets, your voice can and should come thru.
