One of the hardest aspects of writing is developing a narrative voice that helps facilitate the connection between your words and the reader’s understanding of them. Most people who write tend to regard it as a rather formal activity, and often their sentences get structured in bizarre ways as they struggle to write something that "looks right". The problem with that is: the best writing will "sound right," regardless of how it looks.
In school, I was often taught never to use the "indefinite I" when writing an article. "The readers don’t care who you are," my teachers used to say, "focus on the readers and the message, not on you." This is one of those little rules that are fine for beginning writers, but you learn to throw away when you get into any kind of serious writing. There are countless others. How do you know which rules to throw out and which to keep? Largely, this will be an individual choice and dependent on your own personal "voice".
The quickest, easiest method for developing a natural writing voice is to consider your own speaking voice. Most people have a lot more practice speaking than writing, and it’s amazing how people sound when they read their writing out loud. Try it. Read something–anything–out loud and try to imagine yourself talking that way to a friend, to a family member, at a business meeting, at school, or even just ordering coffee at the local diner. You’re not going to learn to develop your own writing voice well, until you can learn to identify when it sounds bad, or unnatural.
Does that mean you should write the way you talk? In most cases, probably not. If you actually recorded the way people talk, you would find that they spoke with horrible structure. However, you shouldn’t stumble over words, stop unnaturally, or run on and on, either. Most people pause every so often as they speak; they emphasize particular words, they stop to breathe. Your writing should do the same.
Avoid the natural inclination to impress people with your writing. If you don’t regularly use the word "inclination," it shouldn’t show up in your writing either. When your writing feels natural and comfortable to a reader, your message will be conveyed much more effectively. The more your reader has to struggle, even slightly, with the words on the page or on the screen, the more that reader loses grasp of the message. Be confident in your writing, and use words, phrases, and timing that feels right when spoken out loud.
A casual, conversational style to your writing is often effective for a variety of situations, but not all of them. It depends on what you are writing for. One of the easiest ways to figure out which style to use is to visualize the conversation in your head. Imagine yourself talking to someone you know, in an environment you are perfectly comfortable in.
This article that you’re reading is written with the visualization that I have four or five pre-teen students that I’m teaching, and I’m helping them work through a difficult concept. This would be an entirely different article if I was writing it with the visualization of presenting an annual report for the board of directors for a large advertising firm.
How would it be different? I might not ask so many questions. I might not take the time to point out ways I could have done things differently. I might have used different language. I know I would have used stronger words, eliminating ambiguous words such as "like", "seem", or "might". But I’m not here to tell you what to do. I’m not presenting a bold new offensive strategy to master your writing and awaken your inner creative power, like a late night motivational infomercial. I’m here to show you how a writing voice naturally develops, based on how you speak and how you visualize your conversation.
Both of these techniques take time and practice. That’s unfortunate, but a reality of the writing process. To be an effective writer, you’ll have to write a lot. It helps to read a lot, although I don’t recommend reading a whole lot while you are involved in a heavy writing project. This is because you are working to master your own voice, not to replicate someone else’s. Still . . . the good news is that every thing you write will be helpful practice. It’s important to also practice your techniques, however. Read your work out loud and practice judging your speaking style.
Once you’re comfortable with that, you can play with the idea. Learn to visualize yourself in new settings, perhaps speaking as someone entirely different. Learn to develop and expand the "voices" you can write with, and this practice will contribute to the quality and depth of your own natural writing voice.
