8 Tips to Help You Learn a New Writing Style
At some point in your writing career, you may find yourself needing to learn a new writing style. Maybe your company is shifting its voice, or maybe you started a new job and the company voice is not what you’re used to.
When I first started at Wix 4 years ago, I already had a solid 6 years of writing experience under my belt. But my experience was at more traditional, conservative companies so my writing style was pretty dry and formal.
I felt completely overwhelmed by trying to write the Wix way. Writing in a friendly, conversational voice felt unnatural. After a few rounds of not-so-great feedback from my manager, I knew I needed to change my tone. My corporate writing style just wouldn’t work here.
Check out the tips below—this was my game plan for learning to write in a new way. It didn’t happen overnight, but it worked!
01. Get to know your company’s voice and tone
During my first few months at Wix, I read every kind of content we had–every article on the Wix Blog, the UI text in different Wix products, knowledge base articles and everything in between. My goal was to read anything I could to help me understand the Wix voice and tone. Now, we have an official style guide on how to write the Wix way.
What you can do: Okay, so maybe your new company doesn’t have a style guide dedicated to teaching you the voice and tone. Maybe you’re the only writer with no one to guide you.
Start by reading any and all content your company has: the website, white papers, PR releases and even the internal content. Is the voice casual or more formal? Does it sound more like talking to your friend or are you targeting a more serious crowd?
Try jotting down phrases or messaging that come up frequently. I suggest highlighting or taking notes as you go through the content.
02. Channel your inner bookworm
I didn’t read just Wix content—I looked for inspiration all around the web and in print. I read content from companies with a similar voice and tone. I found books, blogs and sites with a conversational voice. Two of my favorites are The Muse and A Practical Wedding.
What you can do: Look for businesses and websites with a style that’s similar to the one at your company. You don’t need to stick to just your industry—I found that branching out gave me a better understanding of different conversational styles.
Many companies today are shifting their voice and tone to be more casual, so this shouldn’t be hard to find. If, on the other hand, you’re looking to adopt a more corporate or formal style, spend time reading the content for companies such as banks and law firms, and peruse through some scientific articles and newspapers.
03. Keep an inspiration notebook
During my reading craze, I copied words and phrases I liked into a notebook. I took screenshots of content I liked and added it to a Google Doc. I asked my team’s marketing manager to share any content that she liked—turns out she had her own doc with inspirational content. I went over my inspiration regularly, hoping to somehow magically absorb it.
What you can do: Make note of any text you loved! Find whatever way works best for you to track it—whether it’s printing it and making a vision board, collecting it into a document, or using a good ol’ pen and paper. The important thing here is to actively learn. Don’t just read and move on.
04. Pretend you’re leading a workshop
Since my goal was to be less formal and more conversational, I started every draft by explaining the content out loud to the Voice Memo app on my iPhone. I imagined I was leading a workshop on the subject. (I waited until people went out to lunch for this one.)
This exercise helped me get to my “speaking voice.” Then, I transcribed it into a Google Doc and worked from there. I also found that when I talked about the content, I came up with more questions and understood it in a much deeper way.
What you can do: Explain whatever you’re writing about to your phone (or a patient coworker). Then, transcribe it into a doc. If you want to get really fancy, you can use an automatic transcription service that transcribes as you talk.
05. Have a conversation with your user
Once my second draft was ready, I read it out loud. This helped me get an idea of how my content sounded in a conversation–did it flow or sound clunky? Would I actually say this to someone? If not, I kept working on it.
What you can do: As you work, read your content out loud. This will really help your writing, but it might also annoy the person sitting next to you. May I suggest doing this only when your office is empty?
06. Try out a few different options
As I polished my drafts, I came up with different options for titles, intro sentences and headings.
This gave me more practice and helped me become more comfortable with the new style. (After 6 years of writing formal text, I needed to ease in and get used to writing copy like “You’re All Set!” for a success message. This text would never fly at my previous company.)
Once I reread my options, I usually found one that sounded friendly, but that I also felt comfortable with.
What you can do: When you’re first getting the hang of new writing styles, try to write them a few different ways. Be creative and brainstorm all kinds of wacky ideas. You may not end up using the edgier ones, but it’s still a good way to flex those creativity muscles.
07. Give journaling a go
Inspired by Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way, I tried free writing for 30 minutes each morning. Since free writing is essentially a conversation with yourself, it was like a beginner’s bootcamp for conversational writing.
I knew no one but me would see it, so I let myself just write naturally—without judgment. I found that this really helped me get into the groove with my writing later that day.
What to do: Start your day with a free writing session to help loosen you up for writing later. See if you notice a difference in your writing on those days!
08. Give yourself time
If you’re struggling to adopt a new style, know that it took me at least 3 months, if not more, until I got it. And I worked really, really hard to get there. I was also lucky enough to have a manager who was patient and had faith in me.
What to do: If you’ve been writing in a specific way for years, the transition won’t happen overnight. So be kind and give yourself time to adjust.
So there you have it—a snapshot of how I tackled a whole new writing style. Have a similar
experience to share? Leave a comment below and share any tips that helped you along the way.
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Lana Raykin, Technical Writer at Wix
