Finding Your Voice (Through Resistance)

If my title led you to believe this is a post on wokeness, you might want to move along now.

Writer David Perell tells a story illustrating how we, as writers, can discover our own voice and style. David says he once went for a walk with a painting coach. The two began discussing imitation. The coach mentioned he encourages his students to start learning by copying their favorite painters. Through copying, the art students are able to find their own style as they begin to feel “resistance” to the original.

Copycat, copycat, copycat
Copy, copy, copy, copy yourself
Copycat, copycat, copycat
Copy, copy, copy everyone else

Delores O’Riordan

David figured the analogy from artists could be easily adopted by writers. To develop your own style, find writers you really like and begin copying their work. Listen at the places you experience resistance from the original. That’s where you’ll find your own voice and style.