In writing of any kind, journalism, poetry, prose, novels or any other form, each author has their own unique voice. The originality of a work arguably comes more from the writers voice than the actual content, for example if you gave two different authors just a simple story, such as Rumpelstiltskin, and told them to go and re-write it in their own way they would come back with very different interpretations of the same simple plotline. This unique voice is very important when writing because, to paraphrase the Golf advert, why read something like a Stephen King novel when you can read a Stephen King novel? In order to have a unique selling point you need to be different and if you are trying to copy someone else's style of writing it will normally be quite obvious that it isn't your own voice and will come off awkward and ill-fitting, like you're trying to walk in someone else's shoes.
No two people are the same and because of this, no two writers are the same. The experiences they have and the environment a writer lives in all determine their opinions, viewpoint, outlook and voice. The voice may not even be evident to the writer themselves, it could be something they never even consider when selecting their word choices, sentence structure, etc. To a writer it could simply be them writing naturally and honestly, in their own words.
Tropes, themes and genres as a concept rely on writers having unique voices and styles because if everyone wrote in the same way then one romance novel would be identical to the next, thrillers would no longer be thrilling because we would know exactly what to expect. It's the writers own twist on a certain archetype that make's great writing what it is.
A writers voice is something we both have and yet also can craft and cultivate, it grows as we grow and we can change it to fit how we want to write, a dark voice for thrillers or horrors, a faster paced voice for action, etc. In order to create an original voice for your writing I think it is important to experiment with different styles and genres also expanding your vocabulary as much as possible will help as you will have a bigger pool of words to choose from therefore your writing will be more unique. The writer can go a long way to create their own voice though, experimenting with different styles is important and often unavoidable, you read something you like and it's only natural you would want to try and emulate it. In "On writing" by Stephen King he writes
"You may find yourself adopting a style you find particularly exciting, and there’s nothing wrong with that. When I read Ray Bradbury as a kid, I wrote like Ray Bradbury—everything green and wondrous and seen through a lens smeared with the grease of nostalgia. When I read James M. Cain, everything I wrote came out clipped and stripped and hard-boiled. When I read Lovecraft, my prose became luxurious and Byzantine. I wrote stories in my teenage years where all these styles merged, creating a kind of hilarious stew."
Life experience is important to give you new viewpoints and fresh insights in to different aspects of the real world and reality, making your writing more powerful and your voice will seem more authentic if you have lived the experience you write about. Reading numerous and varied pieces of writing will help you to pick up on new techniques and stylistic approaches whilst giving you new ideas about things you yourself would like to try writing. It's not plagiarism if you mutate it into your own unique work through your original writers voice, even Shakespeare took ideas from Plutarch and made them his own stories and he is often considered one of the greatest writers of all time.
When editing their own work I believe the writer should be careful that they do not edit themselves out of it. Second guessing their own word choices and thinking "that's not what X-author would have written" can be a pitfall that writers need to avoid, having confidence in their own writing is key to creating a piece of work that contains their own original voice and when unsure if something works or not, it is better to ask for an outside opinion than to simply change it and make it more bland and monotonous, this is also something that editors need to be careful to avoid when they change an authors story.
The writers voice isn't just something that occurs in specific written work, it can also come across in a much more casual format, texting, messaging online and emails. Without realising it people have a unique way of speaking and texting, their word choice, use of grammar and punctuation (or lack thereof) are all unique to them. If someone who knows you well receives messages from your phone but a different person is writing the messages then it's likely the receiver will know it isn't you or at least notice a difference in your style of writing. This usually goes by without you realising you're even writing or speaking in your own way, to you it is just speaking or writing.
With the writers unique voice it is important to be consistent, breaking away from your own voice mid-chapter can cause the reader to become confused and disorientated, it will make the writing hard to read and keep up with because it wont flow nicely if there is a different style on every page. That being said breaking away from the comfortable voice the audience is used to can be a good way to give effect to a certain part of the writing, subtly making it stand out more for its uniqueness and making the reader pay closer attention to this temporary change. For example if a writer usually uses short words or sentences and suddenly switches to a longer one then the pace will change and that part will stand out as different.
In conclusion, originality and voice in writing are interwoven, it is difficult to be original without a unique writers voice and you cant have a unique voice without originality. It is important to grow, learn and craft your writers voice to be the best writer you can be and stand out from the crowd.
http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Annex/Texts/Plutarch/intro/Intro/default/;jsessionid=456DCB3AAB7CAB710D7F0A73ABD8FBFD
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