When it comes to "finding your voice" in your writing, there isn't a much better metaphor than the voice of Morgan James. And she's in her underwear, as an angel, pretty good visual, too.
If you've been writing for any length of time, you've probably heard someone telling you to "find your voice." What does that mean? Also, in blogging and social media marketing, people are told to "be authentic," which is a similar idea. Simply put, both of these mean to be yourself. But how do you become yourself in writing?
Write a bunch of shit. That's a good way to start. Don't publish the shit, just write it. In her epic book The Artist's Way, which is a 12 step program for creative people, Julia Cameron tells every creative person to write three pages, of whatever, every morning, first thing. She calls these "morning pages." That's a great idea, I did it for five years straight after reading and working through The Artist's Way in 1996. Every freakin' morning. I would be bouncing along in a moving truck to go move furntiure, writing in my notebook. But you can also write in a journal. You can write on your tablet or phone into a document, or Google Docs or Word on your laptop. But Julia recommends, and I agree, writing by hand, with pencil or pen, on paper, is better. There's something about physically writing which seems to help the process.
Don't try to write your story idea. Don't try to write that blog post. Don't try to write that novel. Just write about whatever is on your mind at the moment. "Man, my girlfriend freaked when I left the toilet seat up yesterday, and then she fell in it when she went to pee. Why the hell don't women look to see if the seat's down?" Obviously a guy's point of view. "My mom called up yesterday to see if I found a boyfriend yet, went into the whole spiel about needing grandchildren ASAP to make her feel better since she fucked up by having me. Still not sure how to tell her I'm a lesbian..." You get the idea.
Write about the shit that bugs you and pisses you off. Write about that really cool thing that happened yesterday. Write about how good potato chips are in mac and cheese. Write about that mole with the one hair sticking out that really bugs you. Write about whatever pops in your head, whatever you're dealing with. Just start writing it. Get it out. It's like mental diarrhea. Clean the shit out of your system.
Something weird begins to happen. Every once in a while, you'll go off on a tangent, and a little piece of that story you have had in your mind comes out.. Or that problem with the character in your novel finds a solution. More than anything, you begin to learn to flow with your writing. Thoughts (wherever they come from) to pen to paper. No filter. Nothing is right (write) or wrong. Just left the garbage drain out through your pen. You can edit it later. Or throw it away. Or burn the paper.
Then put it away for a day or two, and read over it. You'll be like, "Damn, this is shit... Hey, I like that line, wait, that whole paragraph is good, I could make a blog post out of that." Things like that begin to happen.
Most people sit down to write a masterpiece. And then stare at a blank piece of paper. Yeah, like that's gonna happen.
Here's a big secret to writing, are you ready? You can write complete shit for days... weeks even, AND NOT PUBLISH IT.
No one has to see this crap. But most people need to write it, just write for a while, to break down the filters of "This needs to be brilliant!" No it doesn't. Brilliant usually comes in little bits and pieces. So just start writing the shit. Don't edit in your head. Write down whatever comes. Good, bad, silly, funny, mean, devious, sexy, fucked up, whatever. Write A LOT of whatever. Get your mind used to just writing. Then pick through it, and find the cool thoughts, and work on those. Don't publish all the crap.
In time, you begin to write better off the top of your head, your writing gets better overall, and you truly begin to write what's important to you, what YOU have to say to the world. That's your voice.
"She... she's figured out, all her doubts were someone else's point of view."
-"She", Green Day
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