Finding my voice as a writer is a constant journey. During my Masters, I explored a few genres - high fantasy, horror, gothic horror, romance. Following prompts from a number of competitions, I have explored other genres - crime, historical and science fiction for example. The genre that pushed me the most out of my comfort zone, was a challenge to write a Western / Horror story.
I really enjoyed the process, and combining my love of Stephen King with my memories of watching Little House on the Prairie, I created a story that earned me a finalist position in the judging. I was, and still am, very proud of that story and I know it will have a final destination at some point.
I have written most prolifically in the horror genre, so I am musing that at some point I will have enough of a portfolio to curate a collection of my own horror shorts - I am not there yet, however.
Again, during my masters, I carried out a lot of research into gothic horror - a genre I love reading as well as writing. I completed assignments in this genre, one of which was the
inspiration for my final assignment. This story (and it's inspiration tale) are works I am in the process of building together into a novel-length piece. Incorporating elements of the stories I already wrote and adding in entirely new sections to flesh out the characters and plot.
So here I am, partaking in NanoWrimo again, and working on two ongoing projects (which while not the main goal on Nano, is an acceptable variation on the challenge). For those not in the know - NanoWrimo is a US based challenge open to worldwide writers who have a goal of completing a novel, The challenge is to write 50,000 words during November, the National Novel Writing Month. It is not my first time taking part - last time, I completed most of my first draft of a dystopian novel - this time, I have set myself the challenge of developing my course stories (a set of vampire stories) into a novel length piece.
I started the month by writing the final chapter and epilogue of the previous project, and have now begun the process of working on new sections on my vampire WIP. In aid of research and to keep the project at the top of my mind, I have been engaging in more reading for leisure - working my way (again) through the Harkness Vampire series, and another series I picked up at a charity shop.
I am hoping the writing bug has bitten me again, but as my special interest seems to be hobby collection, it remains to be seen whether I will be able to:
a) complete the Nano challenge, or
b) continue writing afterwards.
I am highly driven by reward and deadline, so competitions and challenges can motivate me quite well usually, with the dopamine hit from ticking off an item on a mental list.
I have read that - as an aspiring author - I should limit my blog posts to writing about or in my genre. I don't feel I have enough to say about the writing process or works in the genre, to be able to make an interesting enough series of blogs, I usually stick to sharing my creative non-fiction writing here, against advice as apparently I may build the wrong readership. I am quite happy to have any readership, and as I have no solo published works (other than a few ezine contributions), I am not trying to grow an audience just yet, only share my ramblings and musings. So if you are here to read about my writing journey, you may have to be patient as I regale you with tales of my other hobbies and various other real life stories that need me to tell them.
Going back to the original question - for me, sharing my adventures in real life is as much a part of finding my voice as an author as reading and writing in my genre - or working on my ongoing WIPs. It allows me to closely observe my world and experiences and to play with words in a different way, these observations of my world have more than once sparked an idea for a story or an element of a story - character, setting, event, behaviour. So, while I don't have a solid answer to my own question about voice, my instinct is to say that one might find a writers voice by writing everything that springs to mind, and reading as much as possible. Our experiences colour our imagination, one can 'write what you know' and that can help us to write what we can only imagine.
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