Reading to Find Your Voice: A Novelist's Journey of Literary Influence

Novelist Jacqueline Crooks recently shared a profound insight into her creative journey, revealing that Toni Morrison's unique voice inspired her to discover her own. This declaration underscores a truth many writers and avid readers experience: the books we encounter, and the authors who craft them, often serve as crucial guides in our personal and artistic development.

The Formative Power of Early Reading

Crooks's reflections begin with her earliest encounters with literature, highlighting how deeply formative these experiences can be. At the tender age of eight, navigating a significant family transition, she found solace and understanding in Charles Kingsley's The Water-Babies. This wasn't merely a story; it became a framework for processing complex, "unnamed feelings" about leaving one world and adapting to another. For many of us, the books we read during impressionable years don't just entertain; they equip us with an imaginative toolkit for survival, allowing us to envision possibilities beyond our immediate circumstances.

Similarly, Charles Dickens's David Copperfield resonated deeply with Crooks, offering a narrative of resilience and the journey from exclusion to belonging. Dickens, often lauded for his empathetic portrayals of the human condition, provided a blueprint for understanding struggle and finding a place in the world. Such literary immersion during childhood can foster a profound sense of empathy, helping young readers connect with universal themes and learn to navigate their own emotional landscapes through the lives of fictional characters.

Finding Your Literary Lineage

The search for one's own voice, however, often requires a more active and discerning engagement with literary influences. For Crooks, Toni Morrison proved to be a pivotal figure, a writer whose distinct prose and thematic depth resonated so strongly that it catalyzed her own artistic awakening. This isn't about imitation, but about recognizing a kindred spirit or a guiding light whose boldness encourages one to delve deeper into their own unique perspective and expression. Morrison's unflinching exploration of identity and experience likely offered Crooks the permission and inspiration to forge her own authentic narrative path.

It's not just about what you embrace, but also what you consciously choose to set aside. Crooks’s admiration for the "playfulness" of Irenosen Okojie, for instance, highlights a selective appreciation for style and theme that feeds her specific creative spirit. Her stated avoidance of Jane Austen, by contrast, isn't a dismissal of Austen's mastery, but an acknowledgement that not every revered author will be your mentor. This discernment is crucial for writers; it’s about understanding which voices contribute to the symphony you're trying to compose, and which, while beautiful in their own right, might lead you away from your authentic melody.

Crafting Your Voice Through Conscious Reading

Jacqueline Crooks's journey offers valuable lessons for all of us navigating our own literary landscapes, whether as aspiring writers or simply as dedicated readers. Her experience reminds us that reading is not a passive act. It's an active engagement where we absorb not just plots and characters, but also narrative techniques, thematic concerns, and unique authorial voices. By consciously reflecting on what moves us, what challenges us, and what makes us feel seen, we can begin to identify the elements that will shape our own expressions.

Finding your voice in writing, or even just articulating your worldview through reading, is a continuous process of both absorption and discernment. It involves allowing certain authors to profoundly impact your understanding and style, while also developing the critical awareness to know when a particular influence might obscure, rather than illuminate, your own truth. This balance allows writers to build upon the rich traditions of literature while simultaneously carving out a space that is authentically and uniquely their own.

Jacqueline Crooks's reflections offer a powerful reminder that our literary journeys are deeply personal and profoundly impactful. Whether we're readers seeking understanding or writers striving for authenticity, the voices we encounter on the page leave indelible marks, guiding us not just to appreciate stories, but to understand ourselves, and perhaps even to find the courage to tell our own.

Related reading: The Complete Guide to Actually Finishing What You Write.