Writing tip 16 - write with your own voice

What do I mean by this? I think there is a difference between the daily conventions of living and what is expected in a work of fiction. Bear with me.

Let's say we generally adopt social masks to navigate our way in the world, behaving in familiar, conventional, predictable ways that most other people understand and appreciate. Like manners, our various roles and the form they take, create a kind of shortcut in communication which works well in public relationships. For more private relationships many of these roles drop away enabling able us to make deeper connections.

Fiction exists in an interesting space because it is a public expression that often strips away the social niceties. Novels are often about looking beneath the surface. The writer's exploration can give the story depth and substance.

In some ways, the relationship between a book and a reader can be the most intimate of relationships, and therefore the most honest. Honesty here does not mean that the author writes about the actual details of his or her own life and beliefs (that is memoir), but that his or her bulls**t meter regarding the literary creation is at least as sensitive as that of the reader. The novel needs to be absolutely honest within the logic of the world it has created. As writers, we need to become very clear about what we want to say through the text. This might not happen until the fifth or sixth draft, but it will happen if we work hard enough. There is no point trying to second-guess what we think the reader might want or expect to read. When I pick up a book to read, I want to understand what it feels like to stand in someone else's shoes. Only the writer's authentic voice can deliver this. It doesn't mean that the writer needs to bare their soul, but it does mean that what is told, is told with courage and honesty. This takes reflection, work and clarity.


Writing with integrity enables us to explore what we feel to be true for someone (not necessarily self as author) but within the logic of a character. This means trying to get to the bottom of what that fictional person might think and feel given their personality, history and circumstances. Pitched against these are the challenges that are thrown up, because it is through challenges that character is tested, and it is this that brings a story to life. These challenges need to be those that are difficult to solve. They need to be real challenges that people face in life, and the attempt to face the challenges needs to be real and human, even though it might not always be successful.

Writing Prompt

Track through a section of your story or manuscript and put a mark next to any areas where the writing feels contrived, or where it doesn't quite work, or where it feels a little bit 'fake'. Are you writing with your own 'voice'? If not, what is it about this section that feels wrong?

Try editing the section back, or out, and see if this strengthens the writing. Think hard about what you really want to say, or not say.