voice

As an avid user of X, LessWrong, and a prowler of many Substacks, I’ve really come to appreciate the ‘voices’ of many prominent writers. Their tone, their lilt and flair, their unique structure of sentences and dictionary of words. Each of these ‘voices’ is powerfully distinct, to where I believe I would be able to identify my favourite writers from anonymous, everyday writings.

As someone who aspires to write (well), I’ve noticed one of my flaws is a lack of a clear ‘voice’. I find myself subconsciously aping the voice of my most recent read or a mishmash of various reads, whether recent or just occupying my mind. Even this, as I write I am aware, is aping another.

I’m unaware of an optimal solution to this. I don’t know if this is a large issue – perhaps other nascent writers do the same – but on the other hand, this could point towards deeper inner inadequacies in me. I suspect this may be some form of private universal, but I feel averse to discussing this. I know not why.

For now, I will trade writing quality and prose for earnestness – I will spend less time mulling over the character of my writings, and more time swathing and spooling the ideas, and less time dictating the characters.