Finding your voice, how to write and how Nike got it right.

Writing Prompt:

I looked into the green glass of the bottle in front of me and saw the one thing I never wanted to see reflected there.

Now onto the blog:

I'm probably not the best person to blog about how to write. My theory is basically "Just do it" and work out the kinks as you go along. This is a very long way to go about things but in the end I think it is the most creative and allows the writer to be the most true to themselves.

We have housewives trying to write, homeschool moms trying to write, professors, athletes, lawyers, secretaries, social workers, garbage men and hell, that poor soul who cleans at the porno booth is probably trying to write too.

What do all of these people have in common?... besides writing? Probably nothing. Which is why I'm going to say that most "how to write" programs and articles aren't going to work 100% of the time. (I'm guessing most don't work 50% of the time)

What will work however is this... the good ole guess and check method.

You are blindly searching in the darkest room (so it doesn't really matter that you're blind, but if a miracle cure comes along for blindness---yeah, still not gonna help, so suck it up) for the elusive mistress called the muse. Let's say you finally find it...that one idea that inspires you to write--that still isn't good enough. You can be inspired all day long, but if you don't know how a story is told, then you're just as screwed as when you were grasping nothingness all by your lonesome. (You better have been grasping nothingness otherwise you were in that room for reasons I don't want to know about, but I do know who to call to clean up!)

So how do you learn how to write if not from a writing program. From college?

College is an option I suppose but I don't think they are any more likely to produce good writers than any other program or article is. Why? Well because they teach you how to write by having you learn the rules.

Well that doesn't sound so bad does it. There you go, in black and white print in a text book is how to be a good writer.

WRONG! It tells you how to be a technical writer and it may even tell you how to write like other people, but it doesn't show you how to write like YOU! And good writers write like themselves. They've taken the time to get to know how they want a story to be told, and they've committed to it, even if it isn't by conventional means.

So how do you learn to write like yourself?

First off you need to know how stories are told. The best way to do this is to be immersed in stories. Watch movies, read books or anything that has a story line to it. Now here is where you want to be careful. There are "tricks to the trade", if you will, about plot devices and when certain things should happen in a story. They work for people, but I don't like being limited. Watch and/or read the stories, but don't feel like you have to copy them. Don't watch them like they are a checklist or a roadmap for a story. Just watch them for enjoyment. They more stories you surround yourself with, the more your inner story teller will emerge.

Next you have to find your voice. Typically the voice depends on the nature of the piece. An essay/term paper will be different from a poem, or a news article, or a fiction piece.

Per Wiki:

Writer's voice is the literary term used to describe the individual writing style of an author. Voice was generally considered to be a combination of a writer's use of syntax, diction, punctuation, character development, dialogue, etc., within a given body of text (or across several works). Voice can be thought of in terms of the uniqueness of a musical voice. As a trumpet has a different voice than a tuba or a violin has a different voice than a cello, so the words of one author have a different sound than the words of another. One author may have a voice that is light and fast paced while another may have a dark voice.

In creative writing, students are often encouraged to experiment with different literary styles and techniques in order to help them better develop their "voice". This aspect varies with the individual author, but, particularly in American culture, having this asset is considered positive and beneficial to both the writer and his or her audience.

So how do you find your voice? There's no real magic answer here. It all comes down to being patient really... Your voice will develop and emerge the more you write. Don't force it, don't emulate other writers (some people suggest you do this but I believe it will just lead you to being a one trick pony with an unoriginal trick--fruitless.) Just tell your story. Your voice may change over time as you learn more about writing and storytelling. Grow with it, accept it and don't force it.

Why am I telling you to throw all the rules out of the window? Aren't they useful?

Yes. They are useful, but I find that discovering them on your own as you learn to write is more successful than fretting over them. Rules of writing are meant to help, but they are NOT the end all, be all to what good writing is. If you have a paragraph that is passive--don't freak out, it isn't the end of the world. You don't have to stop and nit pick at it until it is so actiony you can't stand it. Sometimes you just have to use "to-be" verbs. There. I said it. To Be verbs are a necessity. Look I used one right there and the sky didn't fall on my head.

Consensus: Find yourself, how you like a story to be told, your voice, then learn the rest.

This is basically a "Shoot first, ask questions later" type of deal, except no one dies but bad writing and sketchy characters.

You can't be taught how to find yourself or your voice, but you can learn the rest. However, if you fret over the technicalities--you may lose yourself, your talent and your creativity in the process. Tread carefully writers!


And now it's video time!!!! This has nothing to do with anything...

I present: Jerry Springer meets Animal Planet...