This episode is for scholarly authors to help you develop your writer’s voice and keep your ideal audience in mind when you’re writing.
Hi writers!
In this episode we’re going to dig into a topic that is critical to your success in getting your book published, but it’s also something that’s really difficult for a lot of first-time authors to achieve.
And this is how to develop your own distinct voice and writing style in your manuscript.
Later in this episode, I’m going to share with you a simple process you can use to start developing your own unique voice.
I used this approach when I wrote my second book, which gave me much more freedom to write without overthinking.
But of course, I couldn’t have gotten there without a huge amount of struggle.
When I was fresh out of grad school and trying to transform my dissertation into a book, I constantly second-guessed my wording and tone.
I waffled back-and-forth between my desire to tell fascinating, visceral stories that could captivate a wide audience, and holding myself back from doing so out of fear that other academics would judge my work as not being scholarly enough.
With each sentence I wrote, it felt like my professional reputation was at stake.
So especially for folks who are just out of grad school, it can be a real challenge to figure out how to express yourself genuinely and authentically while still asserting your authority as an academic.
It’s no wonder it took me years to finish it!
When you’re working on your first book, you need to own your unique contribution and assert yourself as an expert in ways that weren’t required—or might even have been totally discouraged—by your dissertation committee.
When you’re a student, the safest thing to do is to adhere to scholarly conventions like using formal, mechanical language.
Or you might be sprinkling in copious amounts of high-level jargon to prove your knowledge to others.
An example of this that I still recall more than a decade later happened when I was a postdoctoral fellow. I attended a PhD student’s dissertation defense.
Now this guy was really down-to-earth and a great communicator in one-on-one conversations.
But in his research presentation he used so much jargon that I literally could not understand what his project was about.
And being that we were in the same field using the same methods, you’d think I would have been able to follow.
If we’re being honest, a lot much of the fun and life that initially motivates our research is squeezed out by dissertation process.
I mean, the role of your committee is to point out deficiencies in your study and areas of improvement in your writing.
Because of that, I have yet to talk to someone whose advisors truly helped them develop their own unique voice as a writer.
And, I might add, that is totally okay, because this is all a learning process and the dissertation marks one huge and necessary achievement in your journey to becoming a published author.
So back to my own story, when I embarked on writing a second book, I was in a vastly different place in my career, my life, and—most importantly—my mindset.
Part of this shift came from the positive reception of my first book.
It had won two awards in my discipline as well as one from the American Library Association.
I felt satisfied that my ideas had made a real contribution to knowledge.
Plus, tenure was now guaranteed.
It felt like the pressure was off, which allowed me to pursue new, novel topics and experiment with different ways of writing.
I made a shift in my approach that I’m about to share with you and found the work to be so much more enjoyable.
As a result, I was able to complete the manuscript years faster than the first.
To me, the issue of voice boils down to your ideal audience that you are writing your book for.
The exercise I’m about to share with you comes from a disconnect I often notice in the first-time authors I coach.
Most say that their goal is to write an accessible book for a mainstream audience, one that anyone could pick up in a bookstore and get something useful from.
These women scholars are truly excited by the potential impact their book can have on the way people think about a topic they really care about and have usually devoted many years—or even decades of their life—to studying.
But then they share their writing with me, and the prose is dry and lifeless.
Not only that, but it’s also often filled with specialized jargon that no regular person would be able to understand without a dictionary and an intro class in your discipline.
There’s a huge disconnect between the person in front of me who has fascinating, often groundbreaking, ideas to share and what ends up on the page.
As a reader, I can’t find their unique voice.
It’s like the author literally disappears by hiding behind other people’s ideas rather than staking their own claim.
So why does this happen? It’s because they are not writing for their ideal readers.
Instead, whether they are conscious of it or not, they’ve switched from writing for their dissertation committees to writing for experts in their field.
These academic gatekeepers will serve as professional reviewers and critique your work, sometimes harshly.
Based on this, here’s a question for you:
When you write for your critics, how does this impact how you write? And how does this impact how you feel as you write?
I recently asked these questions to members of my group coaching program for women first-time scholarly authors.
Their answers included things like “self-defensive,” “perfectionistic,” “insecure,” and “too much citation and justification—letting others’ words overpower my own.”
Does this sound familiar?
It’s neither fun nor easy to write if you’re feeling defensive.
When you’re trying to protect yourself from attack, how free do you feel to express yourself openly and authentically?
Then I asked the group to describe how they would feel if they were writing for their biggest fan, for someone who supports you and is enthralled by your ideas.
And there was a huge shift in energy, like a collective sigh of relief, as they imagined their writing as “joyful,” “liberated,” “enthusiastic,” “playful,” and “bold.”
So, who do you ideally want to be having this conversation with, and why? Who do you want to read your book and be transformed by it on a mental or emotional level?
Having someone very specific in mind that you’re writing for can make the process much smoother and more enjoyable.
It can help you determine the tone you will use and help you figure out what information needs to be included and what doesn’t.
So here’s the exercise I promised you.
It will help you develop your voice as an author by helping you figure out who your ideal reader is.
You might want to grab a paper and pen and pause this recording after each of the questions so you can write for a few minutes.
Here are the instructions:
Think of one real-life person you really want to read your book and be transformed by it.
This could be your mom, one of your students, or even yourself when you were 18.
But this person is not an expert in your field or a potential reviewer.
Don’t think too hard. Just choose the first person who pops into your mind that feels right for you for any reason.
Now answer these questions:
What does this person care about, and why?
What kind of life have they lived?
Why are they interested in reading your book?
How do you want your book to affect this person?
How would you like them to feel as they’re reading it?
And, if they could only remember one main point from your book, what would it be?
Now take a look at your answers. How does this make you feel about writing your book?
When you’re writing, keep this person in mind and constantly ask yourself if they would understand what you’re writing about or whether they need more—or less—information to make sense of it.
What questions might they have? What would your reader be most curious about?
Keeping your reader’s experience front and center is key to finding your authentic voice.
Even though book writing is a solitary act that can make you feel like you’re writing into a void, never forget that your book is a conversation with your reader.
Let me say that again.
Your book is a conversation with a living, breathing human being who has thoughts and feelings and wants to experience a connection with you through the stories you have to tell.
To sum this all up, I believe that to find your true voice as a writer, you need to consciously choose your ideal reader for your book and to write for that person.
Experts in your field will read your book regardless, so write for the people you WANT to read your book and have their minds blown by it.
The choice is yours!
Read more about how I can help you through my 6-month signature book coaching program for scholarly authors.
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