This post is always mutating - I keep adding to this while I figure out my own voice.
Someone confessed to me they take my writing and then run it through ChatGPT before using it for their business’ marketing copy.
This seems silly to me because I don’t gate keep how to write in my voice.
( Why someone would want their words to sound like anyone other than themselves confuses me, “your word” being the highest level of integrity. Say something.)
Here it is:
State a truth, then immediately undercut it with its shadow.
Write like a night out: introduce characters the way you meet them at 2 a.m., with no explanation. A good party is just a circus contained in bullet-train; your writing should move like that too - fast (verbs drive speed, make them tactile and jump straight into action) and overheated (compress descriptions, stack images).
Use imperatives. They’re emotional accelerants.
Long sentences create a torrent rhythm, like preaching. This gives the whole piece a bit of spiritual fervor. When you cut it with a fragment, it’ll give it a snuck-in punch feel.
Build trust with little self-exposures in the form of self-deprecation.
No one is moved by cynicism. Everyone is moved by vulnerability. So when you put sincere thoughts (vulnerability) after jagged language (cynicism), you gift your readers grounded hope.
People study form but forget to study substance. Writing is also living. And if you live like everyone else, your writing will sound like everyone else’s. Say yes to scary experiences, indulge in shadows, find people who are living in liminality, ride the strange torpedo all the way to the end. No flinching.
Remember whatever you make is a death joke that will long outlive you.
For the love of god, remove those filter words (‘I saw,’ 'I felt’).
There are plenty of freaks, but not enough circuses. If you feel that intensely, have felt that intensely, have wished nothing more than to belong somewhere, make sure your art (the circus) homes all of those unhoused freaks.
(Maybe you’ll run this through ChatGPT, too. If it comes out worse, good. You learned something. If it comes out better, good. You learned something.)
not enough circuses for sure.
feeling inspired 🙏