How to Find Your Writing Voice: Part I Tips for Bloggers

Most authors blog because it’s one of the most effective tools for developing community, connecting with your potential readers and growing your following. With so many blogs out there, how you can make yours stand out, engage readers, bring readers back time and again, and have it resonate for your target market?

One method is by developing your voice as a writer. These bloggers and writers share their tips to blogging successfully, both personally and professionally, and their methods for engaging their readers through their writing voice.

Jared Carrizales, founder of Heroic Search and blogger, suggests that a writer’s voice doesn’t necessarily have to be found, but can come to the writer with a topic that truly speaks to them:

 

“I’m not a writer by trade, so I often have to find my voice each time I sit down to write. I wait for a topic to come to me that I can’t stand to NOT write about, then my personality and voice is found and naturally shines through my words.”

 

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Bloggers Chris Backe, Danny Groner, and Jon Rhodes point to an author’s speaking voice as a way to develop their writing voice.

 

Chris Backe, a traveler and blogger, provides an exercise to recognize the unique patterns and style you naturally have in your speaking voice that can translate into a writing voice:

 

“Hit record on your computer, an audio recorder, your smartphone, or whatever. Talk about your topic non-stop. No pressure to create anything at all, but have a topic. In 5 minutes, play back and pick out the words you frequently use. Do you use abstract examples or personal stories?”

 

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Danny Groner, a manager and blogger for Shutterstock, suggests that utilizing your natural speaking voice creates an authentic and impactful writing voice:

 

“You find your creative, written voice by following your regular, spoken voice. The passion and enthusiasm with which you deliver your insights and reflections to loved ones should be echoed in the writing you produce. If you aspire to recreate yourself as someone else, you may come across as inauthentic. Writers are at their best when they are just being themselves.”

 

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Jon Rhodes, a marketer and blogger, points to the importance of reading drafts aloud to achieve flowing and natural writing:

 

“A great way to find your voice is to read your writing out loud when redrafting. If some parts sound wrong, amend them until they flow naturally. Instead of thinking about writing an article, imagine you’re writing a speech.”

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Matthew Cannaverde, a marketer and blogger, suggests how to maintain a writer’s voice while blogging professionally for specific brands and products:

 

“While trying to write a blog for a brand, it is difficult to balance the boss’s expectations and consumer’s expectations. How do you promote your product and make it readable?
Keep it simple and keep it lighthearted. Your boss will like the content
and your readers will enjoy a lighthearted pitch.”
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Nancy Virden found her voice in trying to give others a voice:

 

“In January 2011, I tried to end my life nearly, silencing my voice forever. My blog has become a shout to overcome the stigma of depression and to introduce effective ways to be supportive of those who struggle. Blogging became a book, then three. My voice is growing stronger each day.”

 

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Dan Stelter, a copywriter and consultant, suggests some tips to finding one’s own writing voice by examining how the experts and successful writers work their craft:
1) Practice. I use the Fail your way forward approach. I write, and
write, and write. Through practice, I find more words to eliminate and more to add that reflect my real-life personality through the written word.

2. Research the top dogs. I watch the top writers in my niche and see what they do. I pick up on things they’re doing better than me and either incorporate their techniques specifically or put my own twist on them.

3. Get feedback from experts. It saves you a ton of time over the long
haul and it’s extremely hard to get. Value every word of advice you get.

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For Paul Dillon, a consultant, a writer’s voice comes from being unafraid to use their true voice:

 

“The best advice I ever received about finding my own voice when writing was don’t be scared. Don’t worry about what other people might think. Write what’s in your heart.”

 

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Candi Sparks, author of the Can I Have Some Money? series, looks at the writer’s voice as an instrument in the musical piece of your writing; a musical piece that you orchestrate:

 

“Writing a blog is like signing a solo. Your words take the reader where you lead them. It’s also like singing acapella – every typo, grammatical error, and comma are woven in the fabric of the piece. The only thing to do is keep going – its YOUR voice! And practice makes perfect!”

 

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For Jennifer Chan, a digital writer and specialist, finding her writing voice and creating flow depends on what time she’s writing:
“If I’m working on a first draft, I have to be fresh. And I mean really fresh. I’m best when I wake up in the morning, pull my computer up on to the bed, and start typing. The grogginess in my head paralyzes the ever-present critic and I can pound out a (very) rough draft.”

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Zach Everson, the travel news editor for MapQuest, finds his by making it a daily routine:

 

“Write every day. Even if it’s gibberish, it’ll help you figure out what works and what doesn’t.”
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Holly Kaiser is a blogger and life coach who helps other writers to find their true and unique voices by finding their true and unique selves:

 

“Use authenticity. I assist clients with discovering and creating their true identity and, once that is established, their writing voice becomes even clearer. When one has a complete sense of self, the imagination has more room to flow.”

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Jonathan Ly, a blogger and community manager for Story Leather, says finding your writing voice begins with finding what you love to write:

 

“Writing of any kind requires you to love what you write. Take some time to review your hobbies or interests and start writing your thoughts about it. After a few iterations, transition it to something formal and voila!”
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Robert D. Sollars, author of One Is Too Many: Recognizing & Preventing Workplace Violence, found his voice in overcoming what he thought others expected of him:

“I am blind and most blind professionals feel that we have to be better than everyone else to be noticed. I started out trying to sound professional and “edumecated”, but it didn’t sound like me. So I began using my voice which is plainspoken English, sometimes hillbilly, to write.”
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Cheryl Laughlin, a screenwriter and jewelry artist, suggests reading your work aloud as the way to find your voice in any genre:

 

“Speak those wonderful written words out loud as often as you can.
Dialogue was always meant to be verbalized and tap dance on the tongue – whether the words spill out in a book, a poem, or a screenplay. Your significant other gets used to all the talking to yourself!”

 

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Marshall Barnes, a poet and author, has a different view on precisely what a “writer’s voice” is:

 

“Finding your voice as a writer is easier if you’ve mastered the creative process in general. What I mean by that is that you can be creative in any way required at the drop of a hat. Once you master that, finding your voice is merely an exercise in what you’ll have already learned. In short, there is no “your voice” — that’s what people refer to to describe a writing style that they feel comfortable in. Those people are not creativity masters. If you’re a creativity master, the voice doesn’t matter; you can change it as required. Here’s the proof: you’ve heard of thinking “outside the box”. That’s what adults try to do to be creative – think “outside the box”. What do children do? Give them an empty box and watch. The box disappears. It becomes a car, boat, a hideout, a spaceship, or any number of other things. We all used to be that way until it got schooled out of us, but then some of us, for one reason or another, never forgot about what it was like to be a child, to change our environment on a whim, to transform the mundane into the extraordinary. Even fewer decided to study it and then apply what they learned to its maximum effect.

 

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For Bob Gordon, a realtor and blogger, his voice is inspired by the world and writers around him:

 

Carry a pocket camera everywhere. I am shooting about 30 pictures every two to three days. The photos help build ideas and original photography is important for a blog. This week, I photographed commercial construction near the Pearl Street Mall, then noticed another area near the 29th Street mall under redevelopment and realized there is an easy blog on commercial real estate in Boulder, Colorado.
I also find joining trade groups on Google+ is helpful because I get inspiration from other bloggers in my field. NEVER copy someone’s blog, but do get ideas. And for ideas, I also visit Google Trending. This can be a great way to write a blog on something that is hot. For instance, when the world’s attention was on Princess Kate in the UK, I wrote a blog titled Princess Kate Dream Home and showed expensive Boulder houses.

 

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For Joy Pedrow, a blogger, finding her voice came with determining the real purpose of her blog:

 

“When I began blogging, I started writing without processing my blog’s purpose. I knew I liked writing, and I knew that I had a powerful story that I needed to share, but I had not processed through anything else. Figure out who you are and why you want to write.”

Thinking of starting a blog or already have one? Try these tips and exercises to finding your unique writer’s voice for your blog. Let us know how they work for you or share some of your own tips and exercises in the comments below!