Cultivate your Creativity: 5 Easy Ways to Find your Writing Voice

How to Find your Writing Voice

As a writer, one of the most important ways to set your writing apart is to find your voice. Your writing voice is what sets you apart from other writers and helps you connect with readers on a deeper level. When you have a strong voice, your writing is more authentic, engaging, and memorable.

In seeking to build an audience and make a corner of the literary world decidedly your own, your voice is one of the differentiators that sets you apart from the crowd. Your voice, consciously or unconsciously, informs writing decisions related to punctuation, tone, sentence structure and word choice. As defined by Britanny Levy, “The writer’s voice carries their experiences and personality.”

What is a Writer’s Voice?

Writer’s voice refers to the unique style and tone that a writer uses in their work. It’s what makes their writing distinct and recognizable. A writer’s voice is influenced their personality, life experiences, and writing influences and is a reflection of who they are as a writer and a person.

Why is it Important to Find your Writing Voice?

The first reason many people will tell you is finding your voice or at least refining your voice as a writer is what helps set you apart from the crowd. This helps readers remember your work more clearly, which in turn helps build an audience, and an audience is a useful thing to have.

Here are five simple, easy, and effective tips on how to find your writing voice and more fully cultivate your creativity.

However, ultimately, finding your voice should never be done for or about anyone but yourself. If you do not know who you are and why you write, your voice will never be anything but a hollow reflection of the people you think you are writing for.

Finding your voice for you can also help you stay motivated and inspired. When you have a clear sense of your voice, you have a better understanding of what you want to say and how you want to say it. This can make it easier to stay focused and motivated as you write.

How can you Find your Writing Voice?

When I started reading up a couple years ago on how to find my writing voice, it felt like such a daunting process. No one can tell you how to find your voice; it is a journey that relies on you at least setting off down the road and seeing where it takes you. Ultimately, it takes practice and a lot of writing to find perhaps just a vague idea of what your voice sounds like on the page, but here are some tips to help you get started.

1. How to Find your Writing Voice: Read Widely

I include this suggestion hesitantly as I do not necessarily believe that reading is of much help when it comes to writing. I find that, if I write after having immediately read a book or short story, I unconsciously begin to mimic the style and tone of the work I have just read and this serves only to bury my voice under the cry of someone else’s writing.

Instead, I suggest that reading is a useful tool by which to learn and study story structure, observe sentence style and word choice, and broaden your horizons as to the possibilities and purposes stories can create and serve. It can also be a useful way by which to discover what genres you are interested in, but it is not one of the best ways by which to find your writing voice as only by writing can you find your voice.

2. Write Regularly

It is by writing; by churning out hundred upon hundreds of words and filling so many pages that finally the mark of your voice upon the page becomes both inevitable and distinct that you find your writing voice.

Set aside a time each day to write or at least try and commit to fifteen minutes whenever you can. Do not sit down to write a perfect piece. Sit down with an idea or an image in mind and see where it takes you. Write freely. Write.

3. Experiment with Different Styles

Reading is a useful way to find styles and techniques that may interest you, as well as discover genres that engage you. Do not be afraid to try out different styles and techniques as you write. Even if you start out by mimicking someone else’s tone and style at first, you will find that if you keep writing and push past that comforting need to copy i.e. start out on semi-familiar ground, you will soon find your feet and make the writing your own.

This type of experimenting helps you find your strengths as a writer and diversifies your ability to write simply anything.

4. How to Find your Writing Voice: Be Authentic

Here are five simple, easy, and effective tips on how to find your writing voice and more fully cultivate your creativity.

Your voice on the page reflects who you are as a person and is made real by your experiences and perspectives. Do not compromise or favor another writing style/tone because you envy it or believe it sounds better. By defaulting to someone else’s writing voice, you mask your own.

In your writing then, be authentic and be honest, especially if you are writing about something that is inspired by a personal experience.

5. Get Feedback

Share your work with others and ask for feedback. This can help you identify areas of improvement or begin to notice where your voice takes a backseat on the page.

Starting a blog is another wonderful way to share your work and offer people the chance to comment on your work of their own free will. It is also a lovely way to get varied and diverse opinions on your writing.

How Finding your Writing Voice Cultivates your Creativity

Finding your voice as a writer is an important part of the creative process and one that does not have to be daunting. In fact, it truly is a call to write, experiment, and have fun. It takes time and practice, but it is worth the effort. When you have a strong voice, your writing is more authentic, engaging, and memorable. So, keep writing, keep experimenting, and do not be afraid to let your voice shine through.

Finally, remember that your writing voice is bound to change as you change and it is a beautiful thing to keep writing, to keep creating, to keep connecting with your creativity, and feeling how you are evolving, how your stories are evolving, and how your voice is changing to become stronger, more polished, and more reflective of you.

Have you ever struggled with your writing voice? Did you ever go looking for your writing voice or did it come more naturally to you? Tell me below!

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44 Comments

  1. Sharon's Writers Tidbits

    Great post! I entirely agree when you say your writing will change over time – and get better!

    1. Layla Todd

      Thank you for reading, Sharon!

  2. Cultivate your Creativity: 5 Easy Ways to Find your Writing Voice – trendpark.com

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  3. haoyando

    So true, yet easier said than done. I just haven’t found my style yet and probably I will never be able to find it. LOL. I guess it is a forever searching the perpetual elusive thing. Sometimes I wonder if writing in my non-native tongue makes the search more difficult or makes my expression less authentic. Well, I thought this disadvantage should come with an advantage of having an unique angle, but no. I haven’t found the unique angle yet.

    1. Layla Todd

      The act of simply writing is a wonderful way to continue the search in doing what you love! ❣️

  4. spotlightchoices.com-C. Wilson

    Great pointers on discovering a unique writing voice – thanks

  5. roughwighting

    All excellent points, and ones that I teach my creative writing students weekly. I also add that many writers feel that finding their writer’s voice for their stories helps them find their voice in the world. <3

  6. Aspen Hite

    Some sage writing advice. Hope your writing journey is treating you well. ✌️

  7. Mthobisi Magagula

    Very true Layla. My work as a Fashion Blogger stands out from the pack💯🙌

  8. I'm All Booked Up YA

    Writing regularly helps so much. The more we write, the more we learn about pacing, authenticity, etc.

  9. godtisx

    This was very thought provoking. Thank-you…

    1. Layla Todd

      I am delighted you found this helpful! 🙌

  10. KL Caley

    Great advice. 👌 shared. KL ❤️

    1. Layla Todd

      Thank you so much for sharing this! ❤️

  11. Cultivate your Creativity: 5 Easy Ways to Find your Writing Voice – New2Writing

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  12. Belladonna

    Layla you are dead in!!!! What’s great post to refer to especially for those that are having writers block or just starting their writing journey. Great post!

    1. Layla Todd

      Love that you found this useful, Belladonna! 🙌

      1. Belladonna

        Yes so much!!!!!

  13. According to Chren

    These are all really great tips for finding your voice! What helps us is feeling the emotions that our characters feel. If you don’t get emotional or find it funny, how do you expect the reader to feel that way?

  14. K.M. Allan

    Excellent and spot on advice, Layla!

  15. Michele Lee

    Bravo, writer Layla! 🌟 I particularly enjoyed the last paragraph focusing on creativity. Are you sure you don’t want to be an English teacher? 😁 You already are a writing teacher. 😊

    1. Layla Todd

      😂 Perhaps it is a good Plan B, Michele! Thanks for reading always. 🙌

      1. Michele Lee

        I doubt you’ll need it, but it is good to have options. 🙌🏻😁

  16. Keep Calm & Drink Coffee

    I read with a lot of interest: what you write about the writing voice is so true! I’ll try to follow your tips. Many thanks!

  17. Baydreamer - Lauren Scott

    Thanks for the great tips, Layla! ❤️

  18. Cassa Bassa

    I strongly agree with your listed points. Point 1 stood out to me. Mimicking others’ writing style produce works that read familiar to the reader but not distinct.

    1. Layla Todd

      🙌 Wonderfully put, Cassa!

  19. paeansunplugged

    Very interesting, Layla and very helpful tips.

  20. Raji (@journeyintofantasy)

    Great post Layla! These are all wonderful tips!

  21. D. Wallace Peach

    A very insightful post, Layla. Voice is one of those hard things to describe and yet vital to storytelling. Wonderful tips. 🙂

    1. Layla Todd

      Love that this connected with you, Diana!

  22. Ingrid

    ‘If you do not know who you are and why you write, your voice will never be anything but a hollow reflection of the people you think you are writing for.’ – so true! I did find this article interesting, Layla!

    1. Layla Todd

      Thank you so much for sharing what stood out most to you, Ingrid! 🙌

  23. The Marketers Corner

    This was a very informative and helpful post! I especially appreciated the tip about being authentic in your writing voice. My question for you is: Have you noticed any specific writing exercises or prompts that have been particularly helpful in finding your own voice?
    Dante Trimble

    1. Layla Todd

      I think that just writing; writing something every day and following a thought train in prose, poetry, or journaling really helped me begin to see where I tend to focus and what I enjoy which feeds into that discovery of one’s voice. 🙂

  24. Grace

    Ah this is so inspiring, Layla!!! I find this even more valuable given that you are such a talented writer yourself…your advice is truly appreciated in this community!!!! Keep on shining, dear friend. Love love love this 🤍🤗

    1. Layla Todd

      Aww, thank you for this lovely comment, Grace! 🙌

  25. Jacqui Murray

    Great advice. This is so critical.

  26. Michelle (Boomer Eco Crusader)

    Very interesting read Layla. I’ve never really struggled with my writing voice. I think my writing tends to be less formal—more friendly and conversational. Authenticity is really important to me, so I fear that if I tried to change my writing style, it would appear phony.

    1. Layla Todd

      I feel ya, Michelle! Once we find what we are comfortable with it, it truly does ring strangely to change it.

  27. Kym Gordon Moore

    Oh gosh Layla, this part is spot on: “…finding your voice or at least refining your voice as a writer is what helps set you apart from the crowd.” Excellent tips girlfriend! Bravo! 👏🏼✍🏼🙌🏼

    1. Layla Todd

      Thank you for reading, Kym! I love that you found this useful.

      1. Kym Gordon Moore

        Oh yes ma’am, useful indeed! You are so very welcome Layla! 😍💐😊💖😘

  28. henhouselady

    Thank you for sharing this advice. I found it helpful.

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