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Read Outside Your Genre to Find Your Voice
Why stepping beyond what you write may be the key to sounding like yourself
For the last three months, I’ve been working on a new novel. During that time, I’ve made it a habit to avoid reading anything within my genre. It’s my way of protecting my voice and keeping other authors’ rhythms, styles, and sentence structures from quietly slipping into my own. Because whether we realize it or not, that kind of influence happens.
So instead, I turn to other genres. I read widely: fiction that feels nothing like what I write, and a steady stream of nonfiction.
But here’s what I’ve realized: I’m not actually protecting my voice the way I thought I was. I’m simply changing it. And in doing so, I’ve discovered something unexpected about voice; this is what I want to share with you today.
The Influence of Author Voices
So much of what we write is done unconsciously. I don’t know if you agree with me, but you might have noticed this: we have the story, the plot, the idea in our head, and we might even have a detailed outline, but when the writing actually begins, something else takes over.
Instinct? Possibly.
