Developing my writing style

Thoughts on writing in an authentic voice, as well as finding writing inspiration.

Author

Jonathan Yeong
March 13, 2025

There's a line from Zinsser, On Writing Well, that has been stuck in my head:

"Don't alter your voice to fit your subject. Develop one voice that readers will recognize when they hear it on the page"

Over the past month, I've been discovering my voice with this newsletter. It's been a joy to write because the words are starting to sound like me. The advice to write like you talk rings true.

I find it interesting to look back on old blog posts to see how my voice has changed. Let's take my introduction from Personal Productivity Handbook.

Lately, I’ve been feeling extra energy to pursue my goals. If my motivation were a season, it would be summer right now. Sun is shining. High energy. Happy days. From experience, this energy doesn’t always stay, and I want to make the most of it now. In this post, I want to share a lesson I learnt about productivity and motivation. As well as walk through my current productivity system.

It's not a bad introduction, it sounds like something I would say. But it feels a bit stiff.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how my conclusions felt cookie cutter. Turns out this also applies to my introductions. I'm nothing if not consistent.

If I were to rewrite the intro in my current voice:

I'm brimming with energy to do things. Work on side projects, pursue my goals… other productive stuff. If my motivation were a season — it would be summer right now.

But winter is coming. It's an inevitability that I'm learning to embrace. Summer will come back, it always does.

After all this time, I've learnt a couple of ways to make summer as long as possible. In this post, I'll share those lessons as well as what my current productivity system looks like.

I loved the season metaphor so I doubled down on it. And I wanted to add more of my humour, "... other productive stuff". I also wanted visual breathing room by using 2-3 sentence paragraphs.

It still needs tweaking, but it's getting there.

Finding writing inspo

Josh Comeau is someone who inspires me. I love his posts because they're in-depth, technical, and most importantly approachable. Let's see how they do it.

Unless you’re a math enthusiast, this “polar coordinates” stuff probably doesn’t send a thrill up your leg, but honestly, it’s a critical concept for the sorts of things I build, one of the secret little keys that I rely on all the time.

This paragraph from Comeau caps off a heavily technical section on polar coordinates.

It's personal, "secret little keys that I rely on".

It's humorous, "probably doesn't send a thrill up your leg".

It lands the importance of polar coordinates, "critical concept for the sorts of things I build"

I see it as a respite for my brain. A break from one set of concepts, and a launching point for the next. Analysing how Comeau writes shows me new ways to express my voice in writing. Unsurprisingly, reading more leads to more inspiration which in turns leads to more ideas.

I still have work to do. But my writing is starting to sound more like me. It feels better, more intentional, and way more fun to write.