A question that regularly comes up amongst new writers is: “How do I find my voice?“

It’s a tricky one to answer. Your voice is unique to you and you alone. But like anything else, it will take time to find and develop. I’d say most, if not all of us start out by emulating our favourite authors. In my case my very first influence was James Herbert. Later I found myself moving towards a style more inline with the prose of H P Lovecraft. This is fine, this is good as by doing so you will learn by looking through the lens of those particular authors. But at the same time you will not be telling your story. You will be telling a story through another persons voice.

In my case it was actually my Lovecraft phase that really drove this home for me. While he is undoubtedly the father of modern horror (and one of my favourite authors), his work is from a very different era. It doesn’t work for a story written today. You have to keep in mind that language is a living breathing thing. It grows, changes and evolves over time. As an example, 500 new words were added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2020 alone.

Now this time I spent writing in that style was by no means time wasted (check out Flight of the Damned). Any time you spend writing is time well spent as it will add to your knowledge and experience. And that entire time, your own voice is developing even if you don’t realise it. You will slowly find yourself combining elements from those different authors. This is where the growth really happens. It will happen out of necessity. Necessity you say? well yes. Imagine writing one of the fairly standard sex scenes that Herbert always puts in his books. I love his work but these scenes always have a cut and paste feel to them so any will do. Now, try and write that in the style of Lovecraft. It simply doesn’t work. So it is important to learn how to take these two conflicting styles and make them work together.

Suddenly you find yourself writing in new ways. In ways no one else has written before. You are no longer copying a specific style. You aren’t even combining separate styles. Now you are writing with your own, unique voice.

Like a lot of things in our craft, it’s about adapting and growing. Every word you write is a step in the journey. And like all journeys through life, our experiences are what really add to the whole and help us grow. Remember that writing is a journey with no destination and half the time the map is upside down.