Finding Your Narrator's Voice—and Yours
No matter what voice your character uses, your own writing style will ultimately shine through. Here's how you can explore it.
Table of Contents
Elements of Voice in Writing
Voice is the foundation of novels, especially if yours is in first-person (although third-person works can be written with unique, memorable voice and narration too). This can include:
sentence structure
word choice
writing habits
everything the narrator does and doesn’t say
Exploring Your Narrator’s Voice
Most books are first-person or third-person limited. In that case, finding a good fit for your story means getting to know your narrator. The voice reveals a lot about them—their thought processes, what they pay attention to, how they perceive the world, etc.
Something I find helpful is imagining how my character narrates the world to themselves. How do they react to things? What do they notice? How do they word it when no one’s listening?
When you’re playing around with voice, try to see everything in that scene the way your character would. Do they notice and comment on specific details? This content and how it’s said can show that your MC is snarky and sarcastic or maybe that they’re serious and literal.
Before I delve into writing a full book (or even short story), I find one or two scenes first to write again and again. Which scene it is doesn’t matter; I just need something I can rewrite in several different ways. This process helps me learn what does and doesn’t work.
Finding Your Own Voice
No matter what voice your character uses, your own writing style will ultimately shine through. With every book, story, or other work you write, your voice will be a little different depending on your narrator (and audience). There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to finding it, and what works will be different each time. But you’ll likely find that some things stay pretty consistent.
And that’s okay. That’s good. Ultimately, everything you write will be unique to you because only you can write from your perspective. Even when your character’s talking, you’re in charge. You’re their scribe and microphone. Style is why readers can sometimes identify their favorite authors’ books written under pen names.
So, before you find your character’s voice, maybe you’ll need to find your own. Explore your perspective. Take time to think about (and maybe write out) the things that shape your unique point of view and what you bring to writing. This includes not just your lived experiences, but also your ways of thinking, your biases, your habits, and your wishes. How do these influence how you think and how you write?
Maybe your writing voice is like how you talk in “real life.” Maybe not. But you’ll only really find it by trying different ways. Each one you try will teach you more about what fits you. It’s not about creating your voice so much as it is finding what’s already there.
You have an inner rhythm and world. The more you stay true to it, trusting yourself and just allowing it, the more it’ll show in your writing—whether it’s a text you send, a novel, or a short story. Everything counts.
Some Writing Reminders
