Online Writing is an Opportunity to Tell Your Story. How to Find Your Inner Voice

“I have already read about this topic”

- Said my trustable friend when I shared with him a draft about how women’s titles reflect a sexist use of language.

He always gives me feedback on my English grammar and spots any typos I make. This time he just told me he has already read something related to this topic.

“Sure thing. I didn’t want to be the first one, nor the only one who is interested in this topic. Or any other I write about.” — I thought

Online writing is not about being the first one who writes about

a) Hacks to overcome writer's block

b) Top tips for writing online

c) You name it

Online writing gives you the opportunity to be the first one in telling YOUR story

What may be routinary for you, for others could be something extraordinary. Don’t assume that what is common sense for you, has to be general knowledge to the one next to you.

I am sure you will read other stories, articles and you will also watch videos about this concern of the use of sexist language and how to avoid it.

However, my story is special because it tells the story from this different edges:

• From a Mexican in France perspective
• From a trilingual young lady point of view
• The comparison between Spanish, French, English and German language regarding this topic

Any story can be told from infinite points of view

Actually, when I started to draft this story, I wanted to tell about my life in France and how I highly resonated with be called "mademoiselle". I had never been called this way before. Suddenly this story transformed into a sexist language concern.

This is what I originally wrote and kept as an introduction. This is how my story starts:

It was a winter day and the man walking in front of me was wearing a trench coat. A black trench coat.

Excuse-moi monsieur. — I said.

The man in front of me stepped aside and replied:

Allez-y mademoiselle.

Oh my god. I am a mademoiselle. — I thought. I had never been called that way.

This introduction could fit a ton of different perspectives, tags and interpretations. For example:

• Travelling
• Language learning
• A day in France
• Or sexism language, as I did

The reason why my readers are going to engage with my story is exactly because of that: THIS IS MY STORY and it’s only me who can approach it from this point of view.

There are not good or bad ideas to write about. There are regular and better ways to tell a story

You can pass from drama to comedy from scene to scene from paragraph to paragraph.

You can add fantasy to a real story through the use of metaphors

Tell your story from the different angles of your characters. Even if is your story, you are a character. You can jump from first-person to third-person storyteller to add depth to the story

One of the most common mistakes as telling stories is to believe you have to tell a story straight as time went from A to B to C and so on till arriving at Z. You are some kind of god, you own the time in your stories. Use flashbacks and flashforwards.

You decide how long your story will take to develop. Stories that take one long year to happen you can tell in as short as three paragraphs. Other stories happen in a 30 minutes meeting but can be told as long as 1K words.

Let me tell you an example.

How many movies tell the same Romeo and Juliet story? I can list at least six:

1. Titanic
2. Lady and the Tramp
3. The Notebook
4. Amarte Duele
5. A walk to Remember
6. Twilight

All these movies tell a story of forbidden love.

I am sure you have a personal love story that could also fit the Romeo and Juliet scheme and still will be different from the stories listed above.

Why?

Because your story adheres to a singular scenario and time with singular characters with a unique background.

Get rid of the idea to be the first one who writes THE STORY OF ALL TIMES. You just have to be aware of the following:

Tell your story

Acknowledge that being yourself is the only bells and whistles you need

You have a story that’s worth to tell

There are not bad stories but different ways to tell

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