Let's talk about your writer brand versus your writer voice.
- Your brand is the kind of stories you tell.
- Your voice is how you tell your stories.
Your Writer Brand
Your writer brand helps you pitch yourself and your stories. When people pick up your work, they want to know what stories you're telling. This goes beyond your genre. If you write romantic comedies, what kinds of romantic comedies are they? And how do they make your audience and readers feel? Do you write laugh out loud romantic comedies about quirky characters in their 20s finding love for the first time? Or do your stories usually feature middle-aged heroines who have given up on love, finally finding it in an unexpected and hilarious way?
Most writers gravitate towards the same characters and themes over and over again (even those who write across genres.) Try this exercise to figure out your brand. List all of your projects past, present, and future. Include all formats and barely fleshed out ideas. What do these stories have in common? What kinds of characters and themes are you writing about? That is your writer brand.
Now let's come up with a pithy way to explain it. Start with the kinds of characters you're right, add the kinds of situations you put them, sprinkle in juicy adjectives and powerful emotions. Bonus points if you can include a trope or two. There is your brand! (This is also called your writer tagline.)
Now when you introduce yourself as a writer, use your brand. You can use it networking, on your website, and in your bio.
I'm a writer I write (format – screenplays or novels) that are about (your brand.)
Examples:
- I write fantasies about found families coming together to fight evil and save the world.
- I write TV dramas about strong heroines overcoming unusual circumstances to solve twisty turny mysteries.
- I write dark TV dramas about teenagers in challenging and mysterious situations including everything from surviving a zombie apocalypse to uncovering that their stepfather is a serial killer.
Note: Don't feel locked into this brand. Everyone's storytelling evolves over time. Your brand can change. It's good practice to do this exercise every few years and tweak your brand.
Your Writer Voice
Your writer voice is your writing style. It includes things like:
Vocabulary: Do you use ten-dollar words or more simple language?
Description: Are your descriptions evocative, with beautiful language and imagery, or more straightforward?
Pacing: Do your stories move at a breakneck pace or do they take their time?
Sentence and Paragraph Structure: Do you use a lot of short sentences or longer, more complex sentences?
Dialogue: Are your stories dialogue heavy? How do your characters talk?
Tone: Is it snarky or warm and fuzzy?
Think about your favorite writers. You can tell an Elmore Leonard novel from a Ray Bradbury. A Shonda Rhimes script from an Amy Sherman-Palladino. That is their writer voice.
Note: Just like your brand, your writer voice evolves over time. The more you write, the stronger both your brand and your voice become.
How would you describe yourself as a writer? What is your brand? What is your voice? Hit reply and let me know.
More on Brand & Voice
How to Find Your Writer Voice
A Surefire Technique for Finding Your Voice
For more on your writer/brand tagline see Step 14: Write Your Bio in How to Turn Your Screenplay Into a Novel.
How to Build Your Author Brand
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