Do writing styles choose you or do you choose them?
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I tend to write things similar to things I like to read. Some writing styles appeal to me much more than others. So I choose to emulate, or at least pay attention to, those appealing styles. Does that mean the writing styles choose me? Or the other way around?
Seems like a semantic quibble.
caw
Seems like a semantic quibble.
caw
Deliberately choosing a style and then having to write in it until it becomes natural sounds exhausting. I think a determined person absolutely could say, "I want to sound like this--how did she do it?" and cultivate a style from that, I'm just not that person.
I'll work on making mine better for the rest of my life, and hope it becomes distinctive in a good way, but my starting point was what I had to begin with, and osmosed from reading, watching, and listening.
I'll work on making mine better for the rest of my life, and hope it becomes distinctive in a good way, but my starting point was what I had to begin with, and osmosed from reading, watching, and listening.
Trying to develop a style is a waste of effort. Just write, and your style will pop through soon enough.
Although it IS fun to try to write in someone else's style, as an exercise. Hunter S. Thompson or Kurt Vonnegut. Or essay that sounds like Kurt is trying to write like Hunter. . .
Although it IS fun to try to write in someone else's style, as an exercise. Hunter S. Thompson or Kurt Vonnegut. Or essay that sounds like Kurt is trying to write like Hunter. . .
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Originally? I didn't pick it, and it didn't pick me. It evolved on its own. I remember writing one story and realized that I had a style. I looked at how I put the sentences together and started to see style developing.
But I also don't stay in the same style. I change it from project to project, depending on what the project needs.
But I also don't stay in the same style. I change it from project to project, depending on what the project needs.
I didn't pick it to start with - I tried emulation. Then someone I know read what I'd written and made a perceptive comment -This doesn't sound like you. So I began more to write like myself, as I would if I were telling the story out loud, and it seems to work better. ( Although Linda's right in that it does change from project to project. But I still sound like me, only like me talking about different things. Kind of like the difference between me talking about politics or rugby. Very different. )
You are your style. You just need to find it under all the layers of cardies and thermal underwear.
You are your style. You just need to find it under all the layers of cardies and thermal underwear.
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First, what do you mean by style? I find my style varies a lot, from writing to writing.
Word choice, sentence flow, stuff like that is often dependent upon the character that is the viewpoint. So, to use my own WIPs - my MC Michael would be terse and bound-in stylewize, while Edward would be expansive and hostile, stylewize.
Is there an authorial style? I'm sure, but I'm not sure it peeks through the POV of my characters, which lie on top of everything and dictates everything in the text.
And I'm not sure I'm explaining this well...
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Style is something you have to both develop and discover. And you'll find the voice changes according to the characters in the piece.
... reading authors who write in a style similar to the one I ultimately want to develop has helped me along that path, in addition to endless practice. So in my case 'a writing style chose me,' initially, but I've helped it along a lot. So in a way I chose it, too.
Someone already said this, but I write the way I speak. Characters may have different perspectives from mine, but when I write a story, I do it as if I was telling the story to my friends.
What an interesting topic and one I’ve given some thought. I’m of the opinion that our style is apparent from writing day one, much the same as our earlier voice day one. Both will be improved by learning, but the basics are fixed.
If that is true, then there is a simple way to convince ourselves, and right here on this forum.
Supposing we read the last 30 or so consecutive posts from any member, perhaps ignoring the odd one-liner, would we have a rough idea of that person’s writing style?
My contention is that we would, depending on our reading tastes. I’m often entertained by just a few paragraphs of flowing, effortless writing, while I’m not so impressed by over-embroidered, halting prose, nor a staccato style that is jarring to read.
Such a test is probably too short, but that assumption would imply that posters are able to hide their true style, persistently; and why should they on a writing forum?
I’m not mentioning names in case it starts WW3.
If that is true, then there is a simple way to convince ourselves, and right here on this forum.
Supposing we read the last 30 or so consecutive posts from any member, perhaps ignoring the odd one-liner, would we have a rough idea of that person’s writing style?
My contention is that we would, depending on our reading tastes. I’m often entertained by just a few paragraphs of flowing, effortless writing, while I’m not so impressed by over-embroidered, halting prose, nor a staccato style that is jarring to read.
Such a test is probably too short, but that assumption would imply that posters are able to hide their true style, persistently; and why should they on a writing forum?
I’m not mentioning names in case it starts WW3.
It found me. I spent several years emulating the styles of authors that I liked. Eventually I found my way to my own voice. It changes from piece to piece, yes, but I do think it's always recognizable as me.
Definitely.
In one of the most fun English classes I had, the professor had us write a passage in the style of the author we were currently reading, then choose another passage from that author's own works. In class we compared the two passages and tried to guess which passage was the "real" one. It was usually easy to tell, particularly when most of your classmates cannot write in iambic pentameter to save their lives. I was usually able to trick most of them, though
I've successfully written as Shakespeare, Austen, Marvell, and several others.
My Crowning Moment of Awesome, though, was when I fooled my professor with my own version of a passage from Paradise Lost.
I can definitely write in other styles, but they're still not my own.
Well, for one, writing styles change depending on what we're trying to say. I write differently if I'm writing a poem or a novel or a research paper. That said, every once in a while, one of my posts does give away my writing style. Sometimes.
Definitely.
In one of the most fun English classes I had, the professor had us write a passage in the style of the author we were currently reading, then choose another passage from that author's own works. In class we compared the two passages and tried to guess which passage was the "real" one. It was usually easy to tell, particularly when most of your classmates cannot write in iambic pentameter to save their lives. I was usually able to trick most of them, though
I've successfully written as Shakespeare, Austen, Marvell, and several others.My Crowning Moment of Awesome, though, was when I fooled my professor with my own version of a passage from Paradise Lost.
I can definitely write in other styles, but they're still not my own.
Well, for one, writing styles change depending on what we're trying to say. I write differently if I'm writing a poem or a novel or a research paper. That said, every once in a while, one of my posts does give away my writing style. Sometimes.
Style develops after years of writing in my opinion. I have a style that resembles the author of Chuck and Fight Club.
I suspect a good writer can adapt his/her writing style to the wants and needs of each specific character and story. That will, however, be superimposed on a basic template style that develops in each writer (and at different rates). That development can come via several avenues, including emulation and anti-emulation (purposeful avoidance of any observed writing style). No method of development is better than the other because the outcome is so personal and intimate. How this fits in the two choices of the OP, I don't have a clue because we are the writers and everything we do is a product of our human brains.
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Mostly it grows on me like moss or mold. Playing around with conscious choices in small pieces helps me to be more aware of what I'm doing. Then, even though I'm playing by ear, I know that I am in control.
Me too. It's called voice? I know there are some debates on voice in this forum but I wasn't able to locate the threads.
I know that some authors have a distinctive voice (or style), for ex. Shirley Hazzard (Transit of Venus), or Annie Proulx (The Shipping News), or Claire Messoud (The Emperor's Children).
I also agree with scarletpeaches: It develops.
Adagio
Much like a cold or a flu.
And once you get one, it's hard to get rid of.
Sometimes it's contagious.
Lol. That's what I'd call style!
Adagio
[feeling like she's going down with a bad cold]
However my character speaks, thinks, and feels is how I write. most likely changing with each new story, no doubt.
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