Finding Your Voice

An author's voice adds a uniqueness to their writing, an aspect that helps create a connection between the author and reader. "Finding your voice" as an author is what differentiates you from other authors. It develops over time, contrary to popular belief that you are born with your voice and merely have to discover it.

I learned that it's important you never write how you talk. Talking often results in unfinished sentences and grammar mistakes, both of which should be left out of writing. Writing with a strong voice is more concise then talking, while also being more emotional. You can't show emotion like you would in a conversation, so you have to do so through your writing.

Authors with a weak voice will speak generically, using meaningless words. They lack emotion in their writing, and have difficulty connecting to their readers. In order to strengthen your voice you must be concise, appeal to your reader, paint clear pictures, and add rhythm to your writing,

Being concise in your writing requires you to get your point across without distractions or rambling. Conciseness is about getting rid of "fluff" that contributes to nothing but your word count. It is important to get your point across, but in doing so, leave out unnecessary details.

In appealing to your reader, it's important to remember that good writing acts as a conversation with your reader. You should be using language that will make sense to the reader. Leave out the complicated words and sentences, making sure your audience can understand what they're reading.

Painting clear pictures allows your reader to tune into your imagination and what is really happening in the writing. While still being concise, it's important to use words that are emotional and connect you to your audience. Steer clear of stating bare facts, as it will do nothing but disconnect the audience from your writing.

Lastly, it's important to add rhythm to your writing. Mixing long sentences and short sentences will add variety to your writing, better engaging the reader. It is important to stay away from a monotone voice in writing.
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Painting with Five Basic Brushstrokes

In the way that a painter combines different brush strokes to create an image, a writer must combine different sentence structures. The five basic brushstrokes, helpful to student writers, are the participle, absolute, appositive, adjectives shifted out of order, and action verbs. The use of participles and absolutes to paint an image evokes action in ones' writing. The use of appositives expands details in the reader's imagination. Adjectives shifted out of order amplify the details of an image. Painting with action verbs allows the writer to energize action images.

By implementing these varying sentence structures into my writing, I will be able to capture my audience through descriptive language and better include them in the story. For example, the phrase "Emma went looking for her missing wallet," lists an event, but doesn't give you description beyond that, leaving the reader possibly bored or disconnected from the story. After adding a few participles, you achieve a lot more in your writing, "Emma, worried and confused, went looking for her missing wallet." The added participles give the reader a better understanding of the situation and how the characters might be feeling or acting. 

The same can be said for absolutes. The sentence "Emma began her speech," gives you nothing other than the context of the situation. After adding absolutes "Heart racing, hands shaking, Emma began her speech," you portray a much better idea of what's truly happening, ultimately evoking more action in your writing. 

Appositives provide a base for expanding details in the reader's imagination. The sentence "Emma enjoys the outdoors," gives you nothing other than a basic fact about Emma. By saying, "Emma, an avid horseback rider and fisherman, enjoys the outdoors," you are going into detail about who Emma truly is as a character. 

Adjectives shifted out of order and action verbs provide the same purpose, they turn a basic sentence into something of excitement or description, capturing a reader's attention. When you are able to combine all five basic brushstrokes, it will truly bring your writing to another level, providing a better reading experience for your audience.

Showing and Telling

Showing and telling in writing both have their strengths in different scenarios, but it's important that a writer understands when to use them. Showing is important for making a reader feel as if they are in the story, done by “working with the immediate physical and emotional actions and experience of the characters.” Said simply, it is the use of descriptive language, particularly related to the characters, in order to persuade the reader to read as if they are present in the story.

Telling, often overused by beginner writers, is simply supplying information to the reader. In the act of telling, an author will write as if they are telling you a story, instead of trying to fit you into it. It may also be referred to as informing, explaining, or understanding.

After reading this article, I’ve learned how to further advance my writing. It gave me an insight on the difference between telling a story and involving your audience in the story. I learned that good ways to capture your audience into the story include dialogue and in-depth description.  I also learned that it’s sometimes important to step away from physical and emotional experience of the character, in order to provide understanding to your audience through simple context.

The article also discusses avoiding adjectives or adverbs, and switching to words which embody that moment in the story, creating a vivid picture versus a descriptive image.

Overall, this article taught me that showing and telling, although equally important, only become useful in the correct context. I also learned several different tactics to involve the audience in my writing.