5 Writing Personalities You Can Have

When writing for the print industry or the web, everyone tells you to have you own voice. But what does that really mean?

Finding your voice is simply a matter of writing with personality. No one wants to read boring informational articles (well, maybe some people do) or stories, which is why adding personality is effective. However, there are several ways you can do this.

You can be the casual conversationalist

This is where your writing sounds more like a casual conversation than your high-school research paper. It is adding conversation-style words to your writing rather than traditional written words. This is the style I write in most often and the style that most of my writing clients prefer.

You can be the funny one

Humor is engaging and fun. The trouble with humorous writing is that to become funny, sometimes there has to be something to make fun of, which can be a slippery slope. If you ever visited the website Cracked.com, you can see what I mean. Their articles are usually quite funny, but often in a mean or condescending way. If you want to write for humor, then you’ll have to have a tough skin. Additionally, finding something that your readers will find funny in addition to something you find funny is fairly difficult. You’d be surprised at how many jokes are inside jokes.

You can be the passionate one

Writing about something that you are passionate about is one of the easiest ways to write, because you never run out of things to talk about. If you have a blog, you must be passionate about your topic. There is a way to talk about your subject with passion that will convey your thoughts with emotion and feeling. Use strong words and phrases when writing in passionate style.

You can be the poetic prose writer

A lot of blogs and writers use this form of writing and are incredibly successful. For some reason, I dislike this writing style, but it can be an effective tool for building an audience. Basically, for this voice to work, you have to use a lot of flowery descriptions and exaggerated ideas.  Have you ever seen all those “Dear_” posts on various website? Those are a form of poetic prose (and sometimes actual poetry).

You can be incredibly brief

This style of writing is difficult online because to get “seen” you typically have to write posts that are around 500 words. However, there is a lot of power in simple phrases and expressed ideas. If you can pair down the words to the simplest, most clear idea, then you have a voice that is memorable and exciting to read.

These are a few of the voices I have seen used in different writing avenues. Of course, adding an effective reader hook can also keep visitors coming back to your writing. 

What voice do you use? What voices have you seen on your favorite websites, blogs, and print media? 

Brenda is a fellow book-lover and coffee-addict. She is a freelance writer, punctuation nerd, and grammar enthusiast. Her favorite book genres are Science Fiction, Fantasy with a Twist, and Dystopian. Brenda blogs about books, writing and more at Daily Mayo. Find her here on CaW for Writing Tips Wednesdays the first Wednesday of every month.

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