So, it has happened. I’m slowly beginning to find a style. I mean that in both the sense of life and of writing. I was thinking about this yesterday, as I pulled out some of my favorite pieces of writing that I’ve written in a long, long while. I wondered why I enjoyed writing them so much – those specific ones. I figured it out.
It was that they came naturally to me. They were written like I would write them.
For so long I have tried to be someone else. I tried reading books and modeling my work after successful authors. I watched popular people in my years at college and tried to follow in their footsteps. But it wasn’t working out for me? Why? Because it wasn’t me.
I have found that my best work comes in the close-up. In writing, it’s the intimate, one-on-one moments where I can shine. In life, I enjoy myself best with a group of three to four people, even better one-on-one. So in a way, I didn’t have to find a style at all. I’ve just realized what it already is. And that makes it so much better, and people enjoy it that much better.
Moral of the story: don’t apologize for who you are. That’s all you can really be happy as.
Yup. Emotional and sappy blog. I make those occasionally. I’ll avoid them in later days.
Gabriel to Earth 
You need a “like” button for us lazy people! Seriously, finding your own voice and having the confidence to follow where it leads is hard, but worth it. (When my first book came out, a reviewer said it was a very aggresive book. It was actually a very defensive book, I was that scared of voicing my opinions.) As you say, it’s better (and easier) to write when you’re not imitating a porcupine.
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The like button isn’t showing up automatically? Hum! I’ll have to fix that.
And yeah, it’s taken me two years to finally get to this point. I’m not sure how to handle it. It just makes me want to write and not stop!
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“Once you pop, you just can’t stop.”
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Interesting quote, lol!
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I had (perhaps have?) this problem as well. I wrote some stuff in a formal Tolkien-style voice. It didn’t work. My wife read and re-read it for me, and she was kind with her criticism and offered a lot of suggestions, but it wasn’t working. When I went into a sub-plot from the perspective of another character, I decided to do something slightly more sparse, a bit more gritty, and it worked. It came naturally, I think that chapter took a single evening to write out and it’s one of the chapters I’ve revised the least, I just can’t find much to change about it. Since then, I’ve gone back and revised the voice of other parts to be less Tolkien and more me, and with every re-write I like the work that much more. I think it’s one of the most important lessons we as writers have to figure out on our own. It’s hard to work out what that voice really is, but once you’re there, look out!
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Same. For instance, just after I wrote this I revised what I had thought to be a really good scene in the first chapter. It had been good for my writing back in the day, but now that I look at it, it just isn’t like me at all. I’m so glad I revised it into the style that I have now.
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Yea! I know that is a great felling – kind of like getting home after a long trip.
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Oops – feeling
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A great analogy, for sure.
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Sappy is good. I think too that trying on different “voices” is part of the growth process. Those 2 years weren’t wasted, and I bet your voice now is a bit richer and more textured than before.
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Oh, quite so! It felt straight-up STALE beforehand, which is probably why I didn’t enjoy writing as much.
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