A Simple Exercise for Finding Your Writer’s Voice

Many of us belong to writers groups that meet regularly with the goal of honing our writing skills, finding our writer’s voice, and receiving critiques of our work. Unfortunately, some writers have no such groups in their area. Online groups now offer this excellent opportunity, but for some, even this is not a viable option.

A novice writer, with no group in her area, and with limited computer skills, once asked if I had a suggestion for helping her to find her voice. She had started a novel in which her protagonist, a young mother, suffered loss in many areas of her life and wondered if her voice was true to the story line.

I created an exercise that requires only two people; of which being a writer was not a requirement for her partner.

The exercise consists of:

• A topic chosen for a letter that each participant writes; such as an upcoming wedding/vacation memories etc.
• Both participants choose the same recipient for the letter, such as a mother/friend.
• Both participants complete the exercise, and then exchange letters.

The goal of this exercise is to compare the letters, and hopefully recognize each voice by studying the tone and style and of both writers.

The writer contacted me after completing the exercise saying she easily heard the voice difference between the two letters. She now understood, and heard her voice much clearer. After reading her first three chapters of the novel, I agreed with her assessment.

The protagonist in my new friend’s novel was tender in her words and actions; her losses in life having made her compassionate, and a friend to the less fortunate.

I find when writing fiction the character partners with the author to produce voice.

“A word is not the same with one as it is with another. One tears it from his gut. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket” William Wadsworth