Most copywriters claim to be able to write anything in any voice; they say that they can ghostwrite for anybody in any piece. There is some validity to it, I guess - good writing is about developing a voice, and it’s important to have some conscious control over it. But I do think that writers taking this approach are missing part of the point. Namely, that each piece of writing, whether it be a blog post, a website page, or even a press release, has a soul and voice of its own.
Yep, it sounds kooky, I’ll admit that. But it’s definitely not a new concept. Any artist, I think, whether it be music, painting, ceramics, screen writing, or even copywriting (GASP!), will tell you the best pieces of art create themselves. That is, that the artists do their best work acting not as much as a creator, but as a conduit, through which the art expresses itself.
I’m not sure if I’d go that far, but the concept still stands: each piece has a voice of its own, and a good part of writing it well is finding that voice, not superimposing a new one. That doesn’t mean, of course, that you should forego the work of your own creative process, put a blindfold on, and just start pounding on the keyboard (I think that’s where a lot of modern art goes wrong). But I think it does mean that while you go through your own writing process, you should view it not as all there is, but as one part of a composition.
You can’t completely control a piece of writing, as much as some people would like to think. Or, that is, you can’t completely control it if you want to produce the best stuff. Sound simple? Good. I’m glad. Best of luck. Sound stupid? Let me know in the comments section.
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