Most writers develop this “writing personality” over time.   As you write more, you find the unique aspects of your craft, discovering exactly what works for you and your readers.

While you’re still on the journey towards finding that special character in your writing, here are some things you can do now to give your work some identifiable qualities:

1. Catch phrases.  Using a catch phrase or a common line to open or close your articles can be a good way of giving it a personal touch.  Just be careful, though — doing this can leave your work bordering on the side of cheesy.
2. Maintain a consistent tone throughout different articles.   Some folks do this by lacing all of their writing with an angry barbs, others by staying light and cheery.  At any rate, they lend your body of work a consistent tone, giving it a unique character that some readers can identify with.
3. Use a recurring theme.  Some writers make their work identifiable by using recurring themes throughout multiple pieces of writing.  Often, you’ll need some creativity to be able to steer the discussion onto your favorite theme, but it can work really well if you pull it off.

What can you do to make sure your writing reflects your personality?

1. Make it yours.  How?  By writing about your experiences, your background, your thoughts and your ideas, instead of seguing into someone or something else.   Employ your own words, communicating it such that your personality shines through, rather than that promoted by a bland and safe stylebook .
2. Be approachable.  Keep your writing style approachable by leaving out the difficult words and complicated language.  That may have worked for you for some courses in school, but that’s not helping your cause here.  Keep it classy, but approachable.
3. Show intelligence.  As a corollary to the above, you need to pair approachability with intelligence.  Everybody loves a smart applicant, they just don’t like it when you’re too smug for your own good.

One guaranteed way to ensure good style in your cover letters and application essays is to use a formal writing software.  There are many settings for these specialized types of program and they include tweaks that can really give your style the approachability it deserves, even while you’re looking to paint yourself as an intelligent candidate.

How do you develop your own voice?  The simplest answer is to just relax and let it come out.  If that’s too vague for your tastes, here’s more detailed advice.

1. Follow your hunches.  When drafting, we typically let our inner writers take over.  During editing, though, we can get a little too critical.  If you like a particular item in your piece and want to keep it, don’t let your fear of what people may think run you over.  Your hunch is usually right.

2. Break the rules, but don’t disregard them.  Your grammar software enforces rules for a reason – they make your writing clear and easily comprehensible to your readers.  Disregarding them for the sake of expressing yourself just doesn’t fly.  Your style should work around the rules – occasionally finding a creative way to break them.  That way, readers can understand you even with your “voice” turned up at its highest volume.

3. Stop comparing yourself to others.  Every writer is different.  Your strengths, weaknesses and life experiences all come together to make you the craftsman that you are.  Comparisons have no place in that scenario.

4. Don’t write for everyone.  Finding your voice means producing writing that appeals to some but not to others.  You can’t please the world.  Instead, picture your ideal reader and write for that one special person.

Don’t be afraid to imitate.  No one can fault you for embracing a writing style that isn’t originally your own.  In fact, if you’re a novice writer still in search of your identity, doing it is a crucial activity.   Ape the writer who has already found himself and learn from his characteristic manner.  You don’t have to do it forever – eventually, you’ll find your own unique qualities.

Make imitating different ways of writing a regular exercise you participate in. For example, make a daily activity of copying your favorite writers’ particular voice.  Do your favorite mystery novel writer today, try out the style of a remarkable essayist tomorrow and then mimic the best business document sample you can find from your English writing software guide.  In between those three and the other styles you try out, you’ll eventually settle into a groove – one that you can call your own.

Here’s the important thing to remember amidst all these: write from your own experience.  While your  vehicle of expression may not be original, your experience is unique to yourself.  Let that be the defining characteristic that shapes your writing.  Eventually, you’ll discover that it’s also the same thing that will help you find your own unique voice.

What simple mistakes give away your lack of writing facility?  In the case of the first person voice, it always comes down to the use of “I.”  To put it bluntly, pros know how to cut them out to the bare necessities, while those with less ability often struggle with their use.

When To Cut Down

During the drafting stages, having a few more of these self-referencing pronouns than what’s advisable is a natural occurrence.  After all, you’re writing from a place of pure thought – one that’s not exactly refined to read like the smoothest chunk of text in the world

Once you’ve reached the editing stages, though, you have to cut down this first-person pronoun ruthlessly.  If you established early on that the piece is written from a first-person perspective, why bother reiterating it every step along the way?  The fact that you’re talking about your own thoughts and ideas should be a given after that.

Add One More Thing

What things do you do post-drafting to turn out a professional piece of work?  Do you use an English writing checker?  Do you print out the work and proofread the old-school way?  Regardless of the actual steps you take, you need to add one more to mix when you write in the first person.  Take care of those self-referencing pronouns and produce work that truly flows when you read it.