Stop for a minute and think about your writing style. How do you write when you’re not thinking about it? Is it conversational and airy or do you write elaborately with a heavy tone?
It’s important to realize the style with which you write, if only so you can master that style more effectively. Here are some descriptions of styles that many writers employ:
Natural: The style of writing that comes to you naturally.
Artificial: A style that forces itself on your notice, i.e. legalese and political double talk.
Assumed: A projection of natural style, used because it seems appropriate for the situation, as in writing from a teenager or child’s voice.
Genre: A type of assumed style in that some genres require specific language, such as storytelling in fantasy or stilted language in Regency.
Simple: In a word—simple. No frills and no extraneous words. This is the most difficult style to master. Think Ernest Hemingway.
Conversational: Grammatical but unselfconscious, the way a person would speak, but not necessarily direct speech.
*More in-depth descriptions can be found at suite101.com.
I’m more of a conversational writer, though naturally I write a little more elaborately than what my stories generally call for. I also have to hold back on my conversational style as well because at times it’s a little too informal. I find it difficult to assume a child’s voice, though teen voices come more naturally to me. I also enjoy assuming other styles when I’m writing dialogue. It makes the writing and story so much more interesting.
So which styles would you say you employ? How does it affect the way you tell your story?
