On Voice
12 sentences that will change how you think about voice.
10X Writer #91
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Most writing sounds like writing. Voice is what makes it sound like a person.
Voice isn’t style. Style is what you choose. Voice is what comes through when you stop choosing.
Voice is not personality sprinkled onto writing. It’s the writer’s way of thinking made visible.
Readers don’t just read what you think. They read how you think. Voice is the how.
Most writers don’t have a voice problem. They have a permission problem. They’re editing themselves before the words hit the page.
Voice gets clearer when you stop writing for approval. The need to be liked flattens everything distinctive about how you think.
The writer who tries to sound authoritative usually sounds uncertain. Authority in writing comes from conviction, not vocabulary.
The clearest sign of a borrowed voice: the writing sounds better than the writer talks.
You don’t find your voice by trying different ones. You find it by writing so much that the imitation falls away.
The parts of your writing that make you slightly nervous are usually the parts with the most voice. The safe parts are where you sound like everyone else.
Voice isn’t something you add. It’s something you stop removing.
When a reader says I could tell this was written by you. That’s voice working.