Freelance Writing

Finding Your Voice

While established freelance writers have probably already understood the importance of finding their own voice in their writing, beginners may not realize how important that actually is.

Regardless of what you're writing, it's important that you remain true to your own voice, rather than trying to imitate someone else. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but when you're writing, that can't be further from the truth.

Whether you're working on your own personal projects or writing for a client, you need to keep a few things in mind. First of all, do you want your readers to actually enjoy what they're reading.? If you do, you need to find that words - your voice - that will keep readers entertained.

A dry, monotone article or blog post isn't going to captivate your audience.

The thing about a writing voice is that it will probably change depending on who you are writing to. For example, the tone you take in your writing (whether it be formal, chatty, conversational, etc.) will have a major impact on the way your writing voice comes across to other people.

For instance, let's say you're writing a blog post on your personal blog. Your writing will likely be informal, perhaps a bit conversational. If on the other hand you are writing a blog post for your professional blog, your writing voice will likely change drastically from informal to professional, direct, and friendly.

Or at least, it should.

Obviously, a romance writer will have a different voice than someone who writes horror. Similarly, if you're writing technical manuals one day and work as a gossip columnist the next, your writing voice will change to match the audience you're speaking to.

The concept of a writing voice may be hard to grasp at first, but the more you recognize the importance of directing your voice to fit with the audience you're writing for, it will be easier to notice your different voices in your writing.

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments. I'm open to any and all feedback!

Best,

Denise

Labels: freelance writing tips, writing voice

posted by Denise @ 11:41 AM