Okay @ashen-crest enabled me so I'm going to go ahead and talk about developing a narrative voice. Here we go-
Developing a Narrative Voice:
When you're at a stage where you want to intentionally develop your narrative voice, I recommend keeping two primary ideas in mind.
1. A narrative voice is the culmination of a thousand micro-decisions
2. A narrative voice doesn't develop quickly. Whether you're trying to develop it fresh or if you want to make a change, it needs time to fully integrate into your style.
These two things are probably the most important in this post. Developing your style is a process of trial and error in which the writer meets crossroads and has to repeatedly decide how to proceed. You put various stylistic choices on trial as you use them. At any point you can add things in or take them back out again. Each element you add in will change as you continue to use it.
From here, I can offer some pointers or things that might help you through the process. Just remember that at the end of the day, your voice is a quality your writing has and you are the one who decides if it suits your needs or ideals. I recommend noting:
Voice is qualitative and as such is difficult to define. It often includes: focus, flow, intention, pitch, and syntax. Certainly not limited, and sometimes doesn't even include all of those. Voice is a big and frankly esoteric concept. Syntax tends to be the thing readers pick up on most when trying to identify your "signature style." It seems in large part to be how the syntax carries your own attitudes and personality. I'll argue that the better you develop your voice, the more true your writing becomes to yourself.
Prioritize continuing to produce content in volume while you go through this process. This will provide a better environment for your voice to develop. And if you can't maintain volume at the same time as using the new elements you, might want to reconsider whether you want them to be part of your style knowing they will hold you back. (You can always try them again later. Sometimes finding it hard to write a certain way is a temporary thing.)
Remember that you as a writer are allowed to have multiple "voices." For example, I like to exercise mine while writing in multiple POVs, or while writing for different types of mediums. You can have your florid purple prose in some situations and a smooth snappy voice for others. While I would recommend developing SOME sort of cohesive voice, you don't need to limit yourself to even one per story. People like contrast. If you're someone who wanted multiple voices you can use that to your advantage.
You don't need to sit down and form an argument for every idea. You don't need to be able to defend or refute epithets or adverbs. Sure you're allowed to do that, but it takes up kind of a lot of time. It's fine to try it, like it or not, and move on.
It will become obvious over time what elements don't work for you and you shouldn't feel bad about discarding them. Even if you've seen it work well for other people. Their style is not yours and trying to force it can disrupt your growth process.
It's hypothetically possible to do without, but style references are to a writer what visual references are to an artist. These days I like the method of trying elements from other writers' works on a very narrow, single-element scale. Maybe you'll prefer to try to totally emulate another author's style. Either way, there's no shame in using the creative writing tradition as a stepping stone to make your prose more robust and diverse. You might not even see the potential until you try that out. People highly recommend it.
You don't ever have to be "done" developing your voice. But sometimes that's actually a really depressing piece of advice to give. There really is a point at which you feel you are proficient, and that's a really nice, honestly attainable place. After that, evolving becomes a game when you already know your foundation.
Logistics are not the same as voice, but voice needs to be responsive to logistics. Logistics are what you're saying and voice is how you're saying it. Having the voice stay completely consistent through all different types of stories could be boring or could be a strong decision. Try to be deliberate about how the voice adapts to the story.
Be bold, you have nothing to lose. Trust me, if you apply enough time and patience, some very odd things can be naturally integrated into both your story and your style. Sometimes you just have to be tenacious about it.
Just because your voice doesn't sound natural now doesn't always mean you're on the wrong track. This is HUGELY true if you're a new writer or for whatever reason are starting from scratch. I repeat, it takes TIME for elements to grow together naturally. Be responsive to how your element are fitting together, but believe that it will come together. It needs your patience as much as your guidance.
I can't tell you how to track progress. I can only say that if you think you're behind, you probably just need patience.
On that note, now is not the time to seek criticism. (Unless you're casually asking a friend if x or y sounds cooler, but not when the answer could be hard to take.) You need to nourish a baby plant while it's growing, not cut it back. Worry about whether the reader likes it later, after the elements have a fighting chance of standing up for themselves. You'll cut so much good stuff unnecessarily if you don't.
Trial an error. This process is about 95% trial and error. Do not be afraid of messing up when problems are how you learn. And seriously, if any of the tips I gave trip you up, discard, throw it out, yeet it from the window. Keep evolving and keep moving forward.
I hope I've made this clear, but the baseline is that the process of finding your narrative voice is personal and fluid. If you try to follow someone else's formula for how to do it to a T, you're just going to turn out with a stock style, and that's a shame when it could be so much more unique, so much truer to what you want.
Final formula: Time X Trial and Error + Following your gut = Your New Narrative Style
