A lot of material for aspiring writers talks about finding and honing your voice.   It is important to have a unique voice, a style all your own, genuine, not contrived.

One exercise I came across recently via Jeff Goins’ Tribe Writers course poses a series of questions to help identify your voice.  Jeff encourages the reader to think about writers they enjoy reading and consider possible reasons you might be drawn to them.

A long-time favourite of mine is Marian Keyes – she writes compelling stories that explore difficult topics, such as addiction and domestic violence, with a good dose of humour – I love a book that truly makes me laugh out loud.  Humour has always played an important role in my life and typically, in my family, a difficult situation is eased with an inappropriate joke. I appreciate a dark sense of humour, a witty delivery.

I admire Jodi Picoult‘s ability to inhabit different characters, each one unique and complete.  I always endeavor to see a situation from the other person’s perspective in an attempt to better understand conflict or difference, so Picoult’s exploration of various characters gels with me and builds a more complete tale.

Finally, I enjoy novels that teach me something, so carefully weaving information into a narrative that I don’t really notice I’m learning.  Recently Middlesex did this for me through Eugenides’ skillful exploration of history, genetics and a little bit of politics.  This is also why I find Dan Brown’s and Matthew Reilly’s books so interesting.  Both writers use simple language to explore complex topics and situations, gently guiding the reader as we go.

There are many reasons to prefer particular writers and enjoy certain stories, and these preferences will undoubtedly influence our voice when we sit to write. When articulating your voice, keep in mind what kind of writer you hope to be and remain true to your natural voice.  If its not how you might speak, you will make things harder for yourself if you attempt a forced voice in your writing.

Winding back to Jeff Goins then, and he also suggested picking three words to describe your voice.  I have given this a great deal of thought these past few days, but the words I first thought of have stuck. So here are mine.  If I must pick just three, they would be: clever; compassionate; humorous.

What are your three words?

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