10 Proven Ways to Develop a Unique Writer's Style

A writer's style is his identity. It is your signature. It distinguishes your writing from others. It defines you in the eyes of your readers. Without it, your writing is a lifeless husk, disjointed and passionless. Style makes your writing memorable. 

But how to develop a writing style? Here are a few tips that can help you come up with a unique style of your own.

Voice and Tone 

Style is all about voice and tone i.e the way you imagine words being narrated in your head. Practice this while writing. This will give you a feel for the sentence and what you are saying. When you are able to hear this imagined 'voice' in your head, you will easily develop your own style. 

An easy way to develop a good voice and tone is to say the sentences out loud before writing them down. Voice and tone define your style. Try to work on it and you will build your style. 

Try to be Creative

Instead of trying to imitate other writers that you admire, write from your heart. Use words that you like and construct sentences in a way you feel is right. This might not be easy if you have imitated other writers for a long time, but if you stick with it, you will soon find out that it is far easier and rewarding to write in your own way. 

One drawback of this method is that you will make a lot of stupid mistakes at first. You will use embarrassingly hilarious words and sentence structures. But if you aren't afraid of your mistakes (and you shouldn't be ) then you will soon start to enjoy the process. 

Here are some quotes from famous writers to Boost Your Creativity. 

Emulate writing styles of other authors

Yeah, this is the opposite approach. Sometimes we aren't sure about how we should write. Different things seem right and wrong to us at the same time. In such situations, it is better to choose a favorite writer you like and imitate him/her. If you keep doing this, you will start to build a taste. Then you can try to write in your own style.

On the other hand, you can weave other people's style into your own if you like something about it.  

Life experiences

A writer's style consists of his/her experience of life. This is what gives writing its originality and uniqueness. Use your own life experiences in your writing.

The girl you saw yesterday on the subway. The boy you keep seeing every day from your window. Your past life. All of these things are a part of your experience, and you can use them to make your writing more real and original.

If you are writing non-fiction then your own views about things depict your life experience. Be true to yourself in your writing and write what you actually feel. Your writing will become instantly unique.

Here is a post to help you ponder on deep thoughts about life experiences. 

Improve your power of observation

Stop for a minute and ask yourself where are you. Look at the things around you and think about them. Observe things around you for a while and you will see that each of them will tell you its own unique story. A story that only you can tell your audience.

We often don't pay much attention to the people around us. Even if you don't talk to them just observing them and thinking about them can deepen your experience of life and its ordinary things. 

Each person and thing around us has its own mystery and story. The world is far deeper than we think. If we want to give that experience of depth to our writing, we have to experience this feeling of depth about the ordinary. Otherwise, everything just feels skin deep and ordinary. In other words fake and boring. And so this experience gets into our writing and makes it unoriginal.

Evoke emotion in your writing

Try to use emotions in your writing. For example, if a piece of writing is about achieving success, it should be written with the excitement of achieving or looking for success. Similarly, if you are writing a tragic scene, try to feel the emotions of the characters and their dilemma. Even if you are writing some very dry piece with lots of facts and boring information, you can make it interesting if you are yourself interested in that information. 

Enjoy the writing process

The more you enjoy the process of writing, the more enjoyable and interesting will be your written piece. The emotions you bring to the writing-table are the emotions readers will feel in your writing.

Learn by experiment

Explore all the creative ways in which you can write. The more you will explore, the more you will develop your style. Don't be afraid of mistakes. Mistakes are a normal part of a writer's life. 

Try all the hilarious ways you can write something and eventually you will land on something wonderful and worth trying for a while.

Use your imagination

Good writing can't be done without a good imagination. Absorb yourself in imagining scenes from your story. Try to feel every scene and the emotions of every character from your point of view.

Read the classics

Classics that have stood the tests of time have something very special about them. Read famous classics that you like or prefer and observe how they tell their story in a unique writing style. 

In classics, you can see the styles in purer forms. This can help you appreciate them more fully and in turn develop a more mature style yourself.

Write more 

As you will write more, you will develop a writing muscle. You will be able to pull of things that previously you couldn't even imagine. You will start seeing things more clearly. This will broaden your writing horizon and you will be able to write more freely and according to your whims. In short, you will develop your own writing style.