by Neal Wooten
“You have to find your voice.”
When I first got into writing two decades ago, I heard and read this phrase a lot from publishers, editors, agents, and other authors. The only thing more frustrating than hearing this all the time was the fact that no one could tell me exactly what it meant. I’ll admit, I had some sleepless nights pondering questions like:
“What is my voice?”
“Where and how do I find it?”
“OMG. What if I never find it?”
Now, however, I’m an aged writer. I won’t say I’m old, but I’m probably only a couple of years away from sitting on my porch all day with a shotgun yelling for kids to get the heck off my lawn. I’ve been around the block a few times, learned a lot about this industry, and can now say with confidence that I’m still not sure what this means.
But I can tell you what I now believe it means. A book basically consists of only two parts: narrative and dialog. Dialogs are as diverse as the characters themselves. If you have a character who swears, tells vulgar jokes, or stutters, so be it. Their words should fit each personality. The narrative of the book is your voice; it’s you speaking directly to the readers. It is especially this voice that has to be true if the book itself is to convey authenticity.
The problem is most of us are naturally insecure. If we haven’t yet had major success in writing, we might not have the utmost faith in our own voice and choose instead to try and mimic the voices of more successful authors. And this is the first step in the wrong direction. This is literally doing the opposite of finding your voice.
I’ll go ahead and let you in on a little secret. You cannot write like Dan Brown. But don’t be distraught because neither can Dan Brown write like you. You don’t share the same intellect, education, upbringing, or taste in patio furniture. One of you might like chocolate ice cream and The Munsters, and the other might like vanilla ice cream and The Addams Family. The point is, Dan Brown is a great writer because he writes like Dan Brown.
I’ve always thought it was misleading to say an author needs to “find their voice” and it would be more accurate to say an author needs to “use their voice.” Most of have been using our actual voice since we were one or two years old, and your story-telling voice has been evolving ever since. It’s the same voice you use to tell your favorite story from your childhood, or talk about your kids, or explain why Susan from work needs to mind her own business.
Imagine being at a campfire with several friends and each of you take turns getting up in front of everyone and telling horror stories. One guy tells a zombie story with wild exaggerations. One tells a tale of UFO abduction, and you can’t help but wonder if he’s speaking from experience. You finally get up to tell your ghost story. Now, do you think about which friend to best emulate? No, of course not. You just tell the story the way you always have because it seems natural.
That’s how you write. You write from your heart and your mind. You can certainly improve your writing skills over time. Reading a lot can even help you become a better writer. You can go to workshops, seminars, and take creative writing classes. But none of this has anything to do with your voice, it just gives you the skills to better deliver your voice.
The bottom line is this. When you write, you need to tell your story as if you’re the only one who can. Because guess what. You are.
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Neal Wooten is a contributor to the Huff Post, columnist for the Mountain Valley News, author, artist, and standup comic. His new true-crime memoir, With the Devil’s Help (Pegasus Crime/Simon and Schuster), is being made into a miniseries. He is also the creator of the cartoon, Pancho el Pit Bull, which is being made into an animated series in South America.