Eunhae Han’s Reviews > How to Write Like a Writer: A Sharp and Subversive Guide to Ignoring Inhibitions, Inviting Inspiration, and Finding Your True Voice > Status Update

Write not because you already know what you have to say, but because writing is how you discover what you have to say—and then revise until you can communicate that discovery clearly to someone else.

Revision means re-seeing.

You need to ask:

Is this actually what I mean?
Is this the right beginning?
Is anything unnecessary?
Is something missing?
Does the structure work?
Does the evidence support the claim?
Is the ending earned?
Does the voice remain consistent?
Are the details doing useful work?

During drafting, you need:

momentum;
curiosity;
experimentation;
tolerance for imperfection.

During revision, you need:

judgment;
distance;
precision;
skepticism.

Beginnings are exciting. Endings feel purposeful. Middles can feel like a swamp.

The middle needs movement.

Voice emerges from the relationship among:

vocabulary;
rhythm;
syntax;
perspective;
attitude;
knowledge;
personality.

In other words:

Voice is the sound of a mind thinking on the page.

That is why imitation can be useful.

You can temporarily imitate another writer to discover what your own prose does differently.