Tips to Make Sure Your Writing Voice is Authentically YOU!

by DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills

A writer’s authentic voice ranks as a priority for today’s reader. These people value credibility in a world that is often projecting questionable information. Trust must be earned and if we are to secure and keep our reader’s attention, then we must destroy any barriers.

If you’ve labored over any of the following questions, this article may help you perfect your authentic writer’s voice.

• Do you write like you talk?
• Do you imitate bestselling writers?
• Are you laboring over your voice, so it fits your genre?
• Do you wrestle with the difference between the character’s voice and the writer’s?
• When you read your writing, do you sound like a stranger? Someone foreign?

Perfecting Your Writer's Voice

Rule Number One 

A writer’s literary voice is the writer’s personality. We are unique individuals who think, act, talk, and write according to our range of introvert and extrovert traits. And there’s more! Voice includes faith, career, culture, health, habits, birth order, education, environment, external influences, life experiences, and a host of other factors. 

Rule Number Two

An authentic writer’s voice is real, fresh, raw, and intimate. Writers who long to connect, influence, and/or entertain readers balance transparency with the best way to build a strong relationship. 

Rule Number Three

Authenticity in a writer’s voice happens when the writer forgets about how he/she wants to or should sound morphs into how the writer does sound. The process doesn’t neglect proper grammar, punctuation, writing suggestions, or easy-to-understand conversation. Instead, it takes into consideration the guidelines and chooses when and how to make the manuscript personable. 

Rule Number Four

Simply write. Write some more. Keep writing. Be clear and concise, and if in doubt, request those who know us critique what we’ve written. 

Rule Number Five

Fiction and nonfiction have distinct purposes. 

Nonfiction relays information about real happenings and people. A writer uses his/her voice to share truth through personality. Fiction uses distinct characters who have their uniqueness, but the voice is a blend of the character and how the writer interprets the character’s life experiences and role in the story.

Our goal as writers is for readers to read our work and know instinctively who has written the manuscript. When we receive feedback that says, “I knew you’d written the piece, because it sounded like your voice.” Or “I read the paragraph and felt you and I were talking whlle sharing a cup of coffee. Then you have achieved success. 

Have you achieved an authentic writer’s voice?

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DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. She creates action-packed, suspense-filled novels to thrill readers. Her titles have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists; won two Christy Awards; and been finalists for the RITA, Daphne Du Maurier, Inspirational Readers’ Choice, and Carol award contests. 

She is the former director of the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference, Mountainside Marketing Retreat, and Mountainside Novelist Retreat with social media specialist Edie Melson. Connect here: DiAnnMills.com