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Listen carefully.

Voice is essential to making your writing your own. If you write a creative nonfiction piece on the same subject as another person, your voice is what makes it distinctive. It isn’t the style of writing; style refers to the standard approach taken to write, such as narrative or expository writing. Your voice can be represented in your style of writing.

Honestly, it is one of the hardest characteristics to pinpoint when talking about writing, but you know it when you hear it.

You can hear voice in the syntax, the way you arrange words in a sentence, the choices you make in selecting the right word for you. Voice, especially in younger writers, may not be apparent at all. My writing in my 20s was especially devoid of any voice. It wasn’t until my 30s, after I spent several years writing every single day, that the edges of my voice began to take shape. And I knew it when it happened, just as I know when I’m ignoring my own voice and trying to write like someone else.

Write every day. Do some free writing where you just let the words flow from deep inside you without editing yourself. When that voice bubbles up out of your belly, writing takes on a whole new level of purpose:  joy.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Nonfiction theme of the month: the narrative hook

What are we talking about? Rowan gives us the skinny on how to hook your readers from the very beginning. Use it in your essay for this week’s challenge or don’t! It’s totally up to you. Either way, be sure to read Rowan’s tips. She knows what she’s talking about.

This week’s ultimate question:

How deep was the water?

This optional prompt, which also serves as the ultimate question for the microstory challenge opening Wednesday, is here to serve as your inspiration for your nonfiction submission. Already have your own story thought up? No problem! The prompt is only there if you need it.

Want more info?

Is this your first time here? Check out Sunday’s post which kicked off the week here at yeah write. If you don’t think you can remember to check back every Sunday, you can sign up for our email blasts directly to your inbox. Our email subscribers can also join us in the yeah write coffeehouse at its new home on Facebook.

If you’ve never taken the time to read them, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our submission guidelines. The rules are a little different for each of our challenges and we’d hate to have to send back great writing on a technicality.

Did you happen to end up here because you suddenly saw yeah write in your stats? Sometimes members of our community spot excellent writing and they send those posts on over to us. We hope you don’t mind. Take a look around and get to know our community. We’re sure you’ll be happy here.

Have questions you can’t find the answer to by poking around the site? Email us or find us on Facebook and Twitter and we’ll happily help you out.

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Submit to the yeah write #249 nonfiction challenge

The yeah write #249 weekly writing challenge is now open for nonfiction: personal essays, creative opinion, mostly true stories based on actual events. You can check out the submission guidelines and join us with your essay using the link below.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

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