Mary Pipher on finding your voice as a writer

I enjoy learning about the efforts writers make to develop their writing style. It's reassuring to know that developing your own distinct voice takes time and practice. In a similar vein, Mary Pipher writes about discovering her voice in her book Writing to Change the World: An Inspiring Guide for Transforming the World with Words:

“I struggled for years to find my voice. At first, I wrote in a self-conscious way: I sat down and <<committed the act of literature.>> My anxiety about writing caused me to write in a constipated, bland way that sounded clunky, pompous, and effusive all at the same time. I was imitating other writers and producing inferior work.

So I experimented. Because I was a more eloquent talker than I was a writer, I often wrote down what I said and then studied it. I read my writing aloud to weed out the <<not me>> writing. What helped the most was simply thinking about who I was. I consider myself to be an open, straightforward person who likes to tell stories. I am not a postmodern person. I like narrative and meaning. I am a therapist, trained to be calm and positive, and my default mode is happiness. I like to teach and support others in their efforts. Yet I also am intense, and I quickly grow irritated when I feel my time is being wasted.

Once I articulated all these aspects about myself to myself, I tried to write as close to a unified conceptualization of myself as I could. [emphasis mine] After years of trial and error, I realized that when I try to be fancy or literary, I sound silly and fake. When I write as I speak, I sound authentic. By now, my speaking and writing voice have more or less merged. This merging doesn’t happen with all writers, however. Some develop booming, bluster writing voices while, in real life, they speak softly. Others who are fascinating on paper or dull as can be in person.

Part of finding your voice involves finding the right form of writing for yourself. You may be a timid and muddled poet, but when you turn to essays or op-ed your voice grows strong and clear. Or you may struggle as an essayist but soar when your write children’s fiction. And while writing reviews may be tedious work for you, writing a song is a piece of cake. As you experiment with voice, fiddle around with different forms. You will discover the ones that work for you.”

Some aspects of your writing style reminded me of mine. I find that dictating what I want to write often makes it sound more genuine. I also believe that while writing, you sholud constantly remind yourself of what you stand for and what values you want to convey to others in order for the piece to sound authentically yours. I've highlighted the sentence in the passage above to serve as a reminder. I agree that finding the right form for you is essential. Shorter forms of storytelling appeal to me more than fiction or poetry, but experimenting with the latter sounds intriguing as well...