Changing Styles

Birol said:

How does your writing style change depending on the type of project you are working on? For example, what's the difference between your writing style when working on NF project and a novel? Or between a magazine article and a screenplay?

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When I work on an article, I just write like I'm having a conversation. With minor tweaks, my work is pretty much ready to go with the first or second draft.

When I work on a novel, I usually end up sounding more like I'm relating a story I heard, and trying to sound like the storyteller that told it to me.

That's about the best way I can explain my style changes.


--Sean

My nonfiction/article/essay voice is the more articulate version of my regular voice, and whether it is very formal or very informal, it's still the cleaned-up version of me, not particularly poetic.

My fiction voice is, well, much more poetic and lyrical. It tends to be far more subjective; I'm trying to be as clear as possible in both, but my goal in nonfiction is generally to set forth my points in as watertight a manner as possible. In fiction...well, the best way to do that is by telling. Which is also not the best way to tell a story.

From story to story, my voice doesn't change that much. I mean the voice of, say, a teenage mermaid in 500 BC is going to be different from the voice of a high school student from 2008, but, well, not that different. After all, they're still people...and I'm still the one writing them. Contemporary stuff tends to be more informal, and first person especially, but I think you can still tell it's me writing.

I'm not writing anything in non-fiction any more (by choice; I want to devote my time to my novel). However, my style is definitely different in my WIP from my last project. I'm writing in omni and present tense--never have done either before. I'm not sure how I would describe it, except that the combination of the two is making my style different than it has been previously.

Birol said:

How does your writing style change depending on the type of project you are working on? For example, what's the difference between your writing style when working on NF project and a novel? Or between a magazine article and a screenplay?

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My reviews are more formal. My non-fiction pieces are more business-sounding. My SF/F stories definitely have different styles than my thrillers or mainstream.

My "fiction" style is more casual and conversational -- even my mainstream/historical fiction. It also depends on pace: lyrical or fast-paced? Lots of sentence fragments or longer, more languid complex sentences? With NF, I tend to use bigger words or more formal sentence structures -- not necessarily stiff, but definitely less "friendly."

But I think my "voice" stays the same -- it's uniquely mine, and there's no reason to change that.

It's like dressing for different occasions. Obviously you would wear something different to a black-tie event than to Pizza Hut. Or it's like writing music for different genres: classical music is different than Jazz. The style may change, but the individuality would still come through.

I only write fiction, but my writing style changes depending on what story I'm writing.

I have a solid proportion of work that's in first-person, and the most obvious differences are between different first-person stories; for example, a story told by a neurotic young man living in a boarding house is in a strongly colloquial style, whereas another story told by a shy bookish twelve year old boy is more grammatical and precise.

Even with my third-person fiction writing, my style changes noticeably from story to story.

I'm interested in the distinction Maestrowork makes between 'style' and 'voice'. I don't really know what is meant by a 'voice' -- is that when, for example, I continually overuse 'actually' and 'of course' no matter what genre or format I am writing in?

We had a discussion(s) on style vs. voice before. To me, voice is about word choices, the way you say something, and the thing you say. Think of music -- the style could be movie scores: sweeping strings and heavy brass, and all that. But you'll know John William's vs. Howard Shore's because of their "voices." Or it doesn't matter what style of songs Frank Sinatra sang, he always had his unique voice.

My style varies widely in my short stories. In my novels, it is much more the same. With only one exceptions, every novel I have finished has been in first person. I think it's where I'm the most comfortable and so I gravitate there for long projects.

Well, I do have a partial novel written in third, but I haven't completed it. I did complete one in omniscient and it was a booger to write.

I write stories in third all the time. Well, often enough anyhoo. Okay, sometimes.

maestrowork said:

We had a discussion(s) on style vs. voice before.

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There was one somewhat recently, I know; but people were being a little... er, put it this way, I have trouble reading heated discussions and generally avoid them.

So thank you for explaining your idea of the distinction.

Surprisingly, I can't seem to shake my "telling" style. I always "tell" in my writing, which frustrates me. It's been with me since day 1 of my writing experience.

Most recently, I am trying to take advantage of my "telling" style and hopefully can create something readable. It's a step in a new direction. My most recent attempt before that was a type of speed writing approach. I was hoping for some telegraphic way of writing but instead it looked overtly simplified. Very sparse way of writing. I didn't bother to analyze it so I don't really know more about what I was doing except it was writing that happened very fast. When I think about it, it was like cutting as much description as possible and sticking with the main story and action. Sorta like what's happening in the now rather than focusing on all types of stuff in a regular narrative. Just looking at it on paper still looks attractive because of the filtering of words that was left. So it was appealing in the action sense. But it still lacked substance and I was still "telling." I don't think I'll be ever able to shake that.