How to Develop Your Writing Style
One of my first editors said to me, “I will always know a Carrie Jones book.”
And this, my friends, freaked me out.
That’s because I’m very good at:
Making a positive a negative
Easily freaked out
Easily worried about being confined to one thing
Have issues with standing out
And there you go, a micro-TedTalk about what’s wrong with me, Carrie Jones.
Once I calmed down enough to process what he said, I realized that he was just talking about writing style.
What’s that? Writing Style?
It’s basically how the author/writer makes choices that influence the story and how it’s set out on the page.
It’s about:
vocabulary,
tone,
how you organize paragraphs and thoughts and structure
the way you create sentences.
Or as Danielle McLeod writes, “It is the individual fingerprint that makes a piece of writing uniquely yours.”
McLeod breaks it down like this:
“Tone: The attitude or emotion conveyed through the writing, such as formal, casual, persuasive, or contemplative. In my case, as mentioned, I tend to adopt a formal, academic tone, but I’m always mindful of striking a balance between accessibility.
“Diction: The author’s specific word choices, ranging from technical jargon to lyrical prose. I favor precise vocabulary to convey complex ideas, but I also try to define any specialized terms to ensure my writing is clear and understandable.
“Syntax: The structure and flow of sentences, which can be simple, complex, or somewhere between. As noted earlier, my sentences tend to be longer and more intricate, but I try to vary my sentence structures to prevent monotony.
“Voice: The distinct personality, perspective, and authorial presence in the writing. My writing voice is characterized by a sense of intellectual curiosity and a commitment to objectivity. However, I also aim to infuse it with a touch of my unique worldview and lived experiences.”
You can see just by that above that she and I do not have similar styles, right? She has longer sentences. She uses words that are more derived from Latin roots than my Anglo-Saxon-derived choices. Her paragraphs are pretty uniform. Mine? All over the place.
But, all the choices she puts out up there are what help create voice or writing style.
MasterClass has tips about writing style, which I’m going to paste in below, but I think that it really is just about improving a bit on the page, about being true to your own voice and roots.
To me? That’s the most important part.
Don’t try to sound like other people. Sound like your story wants you to sound.
Here are those tips:
“Be original. Focus on the point you are trying to make and say it as only you can. Avoid using clichés—they lack creativity and originality and imply that you can’t think of anything else to write. Choose language that reflects both who you are and who you’re writing for.
“Use your life experiences. The accumulation of unique experiences in your life have given you a distinct point of view. Incorporate that into your writing process. Let events in real life that have shaped you also inform your own work and voice.
“Be present in your writing. Whether you’re developing a narrative storyline or writing a blog post, immerse readers in your story by being present when you write. Use an authentic tone. Use efficient syntax to effectively convey the details of your story.
“Have an adaptable voice. While you should have a confident and consistent voice, writing styles should shift depending on what type of writing you’re doing. Different genres will work better with different types of writing styles. In creative writing, your personality will shift depending on the narrator’s perspective, and whether the story is told through first person or third person. Writing narratives with heavy dialogue, like screenplays, will require a writer to take on different styles with each character.
“Step out of your comfort zone. Don't be afraid to experiment a little in your writing. While your style should reflect who you are, it should also stretch the limits of your literary personality. Incorporate a variety of literary devices to amplify your voice.
“Read other authors. William Faulkner. Margaret Atwood. Stephen King. Ernest Hemingway. Each author has a unique voice, tone, and overall writing style they developed over the course of their writing career. Read some of your favorite authors as well as famous writers you’re not yet familiar with, and focus on how they use words and compose sentences to tell a story.
“Write often. Good writers have a regular writing habit. The more you write, the more your writer’s voice will come into focus. One method many writers use is to have a morning journal. This daily writing ritual requires a three-page, longhand, stream-of-consciousness writing exercise first thing every morning. You’ll develop better writing skills and find your own unique style.
“Hone your craft. Once you feel like you have a handle on your personal style, consider these other, more technical ways you can further improve your writing style.”
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
WritersEdit has a really cool post that’s an entirely different take on this than McLeod’s and MasterClass’s. That’s here.