it's about how you say it. (a post about style)
I've been meaning to make this post for a year, and when I sat down to write today, this is what came out.
Style.
I've been rereading The Sound On The Page: Style and Voice in Writing, and I realized there hasn't been much meta around LJ about style. There's lots floating around about the writing process: how to outline, how to turn a scene, how to get the most out of beta. (In fact,![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
synecdochic has a whole series of writing meta posts, and I recommend every one.)
But I haven't seen much about personal style and finding your own voice. I think the reason for that is that you can't teach style. A writer can imitate style and voice, but their own personal style only comes out of practice.
What are you talking about when you use the word 'style'?
I am not talking about Strunk and White. If you're reading this and you still are not clear on how to write sentences in a clear style, go back and learn. This post is not about grammar. You must first learn the basic rules before you bend or break them.
Ben Yagoda says it best in Sound: [I]t is frequently the case that writers entertain, move and inspire us less by what they say and more by how they say it. What they say is information and ideas, and (in the case of fiction) story and characters. How they say it is style.
There are a bunch of ways to approach style, a whole spectrum. You can let style dominate your piece, so that the reader is caught up in the way you voice your prose. “Oh, the writing,” they might say. They are caught up in your paragraphs, they reread lines again and again and quote them back to you. Your sentences are jewel-like in their existence, multifaceted and unique.
On the other end of the spectrum, there is the straightforward approach. You let
the plot and characters dominate, cutting out phrases that interrupt the flow so that the reader is focused on the story, immersed in the plot. “I couldn't put it down,” the reader might say, or, “Great story!” That is not to say there is no style, there is definitely style. It is just another way of applying it.
Good writing is good writing. Neither of these approaches are good or bad. Each can have its downsides, of course – the reader can be so immersed in how you are saying something that they miss what you are saying, in which case you, as the writer, may want to get out of the way a little and let your story speak more clearly. Or the reader can find the straightforward approach too plain, a little boring, like boiled chicken breast. Add some herbs and salt to your writing if this is the case. Focus on your word choice, turn your phrases around.
My writing is all over the place. How do I recognize my own style?
You come into it slowly. You might imitate at first. That's okay. Imitation is how we learn to write. You will be influenced by other writers. You may read a glowing story by fangirlX and be inspired to write in that style. Then you read something by fangirlY and be inspired to write in that style. Go ahead. As long as you keep writing.
Over time, however, imitation will frustrate you. It takes longer to write while imitating; it's not natural. Ultimately, your subconscious mind will push and prod at you until you start writing in your own voice. Halfway through your story, the style will change. Keep writing. Then, when you are finished, take a closer look. The second half feels more natural to you, even if it's not what you set out to do. You discover in those paragraphs a kernel of yourself.
Keep writing. Your style will peek out around the corner. It will come into the rooms of your mind and take up residence. You will recognize it. You will get to know its quirks and flaws. You will become old friends. And as all this happens, you will find yourself writing faster and more naturally.
My beta doesn't understand my style, and is working against it. Help!
The most simplistic answer to this is to get a new beta, someone who already enjoys your work and understands your style, who will work with it and not against it.
But your problem may not be your beta at all. You might still be imitating. If you are, your writing may not ring true, and your beta is frustrated with that.
Several long years ago I beta'd for a new writer. Her sentences weren't structured the way I would structure them, and I sent back a note saying she'd have to rewrite the whole thing. I was snobby and pretentious back then, but I wasn't entirely wrong. I was picking up on a falseness of style, something I was too ignorant of to put into words. Looking back, her style at the time was experimental, flimsy, and shallow. Now, these many years later, her style is developed and natural. I would have no problem beta reading for her – except for the fact that she stopped talking to me after I ripped that first draft to shreds.
There is a lesson here. Well, three lessons. (1.) Be kind when you beta. I had to learn this the hard way; don't make my mistakes. (2.) Try not to be pretentious. (3.) If you are imitating another style too hard, your writing will not ring true. You can stand like a tree, your arms outstretched towards the sun, but you can't say, “I am a tree” and expect others to believe you. You are you, and your writing should reflect that.
I still don't understand.
Here is where I have to say spiritual things. There is a deeper you, something intangible, that comes out on paper when you have come into your own. Writing changes your soul, and your soul changes your writing. When you have found your voice and settled into it, you can do amazing things. You write faster, and ideas come to you more easily. It is not a magic pill, this style thing, but it does help.
You do not pull the words out like teeth, the words pull you out onto the paper. Not always, not every time you sit down. There will be days, weeks, months when you sit in front of the computer and every word seems to be a chore. But as you get warmed up and tap into your lizard brain, when you turn off the voices that say 'you can't write, why are you even trying?', words appear. Whole sentences. Paragraphs of your own voice, fragments of your spirit.
What are some tips to finding my own style?
This is an easy one. In theory, at least, not necessarily in execution.
1.)Write. Write anything, everything. Write stories, write in your journal, write emails to friends. Try your hand at free verse. No one has to see it. Write a lot. When you notice you are writing differently, usually somewhere on page 3-5 or so, go with it. See what you have to say, and let yourself say it. Just let it all hang out. Write, write, write.
2.)Read. Read voraciously. Especially read a lot of one established author, until you could pick out her style in a blind taste test. Pay attention to how she puts sentences together. Pay attention to the flow and rhythm. Pay attention to her word choice. Then read someone else. Read different styles. Read nonfiction. Read books and meta about writing. Immerse yourself in the written word.
3.)Get to know yourself. Go to therapy and talk about your neuroses. Write about yourself, your family, your traumas, until you ping on great Truth. It sounds weird, I know, but you have to know yourself to write well. There's a soul/mind/word connection. Emotional truth is essential to good writing, whether you're writing a SF novel or a 500 word PWP. It's what ultimately resonates with the reader, that Truth, and you can only get to it by being in tune with yourself. Your voice, your style, will come out of knowing. Or maybe it's the opposite: your knowing will come out of your writing. The two are so linked it's almost impossible to say which comes first. Writing is a spiritual endeavor.
I would like to hear what others have to say about style. It can be navel gazing, I don't care. I think the best conversations come out of navel gazing. ;)
Style.
I've been rereading The Sound On The Page: Style and Voice in Writing, and I realized there hasn't been much meta around LJ about style. There's lots floating around about the writing process: how to outline, how to turn a scene, how to get the most out of beta. (In fact,
synecdochic has a whole series of writing meta posts, and I recommend every one.)But I haven't seen much about personal style and finding your own voice. I think the reason for that is that you can't teach style. A writer can imitate style and voice, but their own personal style only comes out of practice.
What are you talking about when you use the word 'style'?
I am not talking about Strunk and White. If you're reading this and you still are not clear on how to write sentences in a clear style, go back and learn. This post is not about grammar. You must first learn the basic rules before you bend or break them.
Ben Yagoda says it best in Sound: [I]t is frequently the case that writers entertain, move and inspire us less by what they say and more by how they say it. What they say is information and ideas, and (in the case of fiction) story and characters. How they say it is style.
There are a bunch of ways to approach style, a whole spectrum. You can let style dominate your piece, so that the reader is caught up in the way you voice your prose. “Oh, the writing,” they might say. They are caught up in your paragraphs, they reread lines again and again and quote them back to you. Your sentences are jewel-like in their existence, multifaceted and unique.
On the other end of the spectrum, there is the straightforward approach. You let
the plot and characters dominate, cutting out phrases that interrupt the flow so that the reader is focused on the story, immersed in the plot. “I couldn't put it down,” the reader might say, or, “Great story!” That is not to say there is no style, there is definitely style. It is just another way of applying it.
Good writing is good writing. Neither of these approaches are good or bad. Each can have its downsides, of course – the reader can be so immersed in how you are saying something that they miss what you are saying, in which case you, as the writer, may want to get out of the way a little and let your story speak more clearly. Or the reader can find the straightforward approach too plain, a little boring, like boiled chicken breast. Add some herbs and salt to your writing if this is the case. Focus on your word choice, turn your phrases around.
My writing is all over the place. How do I recognize my own style?
You come into it slowly. You might imitate at first. That's okay. Imitation is how we learn to write. You will be influenced by other writers. You may read a glowing story by fangirlX and be inspired to write in that style. Then you read something by fangirlY and be inspired to write in that style. Go ahead. As long as you keep writing.
Over time, however, imitation will frustrate you. It takes longer to write while imitating; it's not natural. Ultimately, your subconscious mind will push and prod at you until you start writing in your own voice. Halfway through your story, the style will change. Keep writing. Then, when you are finished, take a closer look. The second half feels more natural to you, even if it's not what you set out to do. You discover in those paragraphs a kernel of yourself.
Keep writing. Your style will peek out around the corner. It will come into the rooms of your mind and take up residence. You will recognize it. You will get to know its quirks and flaws. You will become old friends. And as all this happens, you will find yourself writing faster and more naturally.
My beta doesn't understand my style, and is working against it. Help!
The most simplistic answer to this is to get a new beta, someone who already enjoys your work and understands your style, who will work with it and not against it.
But your problem may not be your beta at all. You might still be imitating. If you are, your writing may not ring true, and your beta is frustrated with that.
Several long years ago I beta'd for a new writer. Her sentences weren't structured the way I would structure them, and I sent back a note saying she'd have to rewrite the whole thing. I was snobby and pretentious back then, but I wasn't entirely wrong. I was picking up on a falseness of style, something I was too ignorant of to put into words. Looking back, her style at the time was experimental, flimsy, and shallow. Now, these many years later, her style is developed and natural. I would have no problem beta reading for her – except for the fact that she stopped talking to me after I ripped that first draft to shreds.
There is a lesson here. Well, three lessons. (1.) Be kind when you beta. I had to learn this the hard way; don't make my mistakes. (2.) Try not to be pretentious. (3.) If you are imitating another style too hard, your writing will not ring true. You can stand like a tree, your arms outstretched towards the sun, but you can't say, “I am a tree” and expect others to believe you. You are you, and your writing should reflect that.
I still don't understand.
Here is where I have to say spiritual things. There is a deeper you, something intangible, that comes out on paper when you have come into your own. Writing changes your soul, and your soul changes your writing. When you have found your voice and settled into it, you can do amazing things. You write faster, and ideas come to you more easily. It is not a magic pill, this style thing, but it does help.
You do not pull the words out like teeth, the words pull you out onto the paper. Not always, not every time you sit down. There will be days, weeks, months when you sit in front of the computer and every word seems to be a chore. But as you get warmed up and tap into your lizard brain, when you turn off the voices that say 'you can't write, why are you even trying?', words appear. Whole sentences. Paragraphs of your own voice, fragments of your spirit.
What are some tips to finding my own style?
This is an easy one. In theory, at least, not necessarily in execution.
1.)Write. Write anything, everything. Write stories, write in your journal, write emails to friends. Try your hand at free verse. No one has to see it. Write a lot. When you notice you are writing differently, usually somewhere on page 3-5 or so, go with it. See what you have to say, and let yourself say it. Just let it all hang out. Write, write, write.
2.)Read. Read voraciously. Especially read a lot of one established author, until you could pick out her style in a blind taste test. Pay attention to how she puts sentences together. Pay attention to the flow and rhythm. Pay attention to her word choice. Then read someone else. Read different styles. Read nonfiction. Read books and meta about writing. Immerse yourself in the written word.
3.)Get to know yourself. Go to therapy and talk about your neuroses. Write about yourself, your family, your traumas, until you ping on great Truth. It sounds weird, I know, but you have to know yourself to write well. There's a soul/mind/word connection. Emotional truth is essential to good writing, whether you're writing a SF novel or a 500 word PWP. It's what ultimately resonates with the reader, that Truth, and you can only get to it by being in tune with yourself. Your voice, your style, will come out of knowing. Or maybe it's the opposite: your knowing will come out of your writing. The two are so linked it's almost impossible to say which comes first. Writing is a spiritual endeavor.
I would like to hear what others have to say about style. It can be navel gazing, I don't care. I think the best conversations come out of navel gazing. ;)
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This is so, so true. Ridiculously so. All that stuff about the best artists being tormented and depressed? I doubt if it was completely true, because I know for a fact that if my mind and my emotions aren't quite right, stories just won't come. If I'm in a good place, a healthy place, I can write 'til the cows come home. But if I'm not...
Thank you for a very good post.
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Thank you for reading!
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here via metafandom
Re: here via metafandom
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i'm not really at a point where i can say much about style, other than i know it when i see it, heh. although i read everything i can get my hands on - always have - when i write, i'm at a point where i'm either 'channeling' the story (or character), or i'm just not. it's *weird*, and sometimes i wonder how that can possibly work as well as it does, but writing as a process for me is to turn off my analytical, math-y brain, and just let the images flow out my fingertips like water.
and then i get frustrated because sometimes the images insist on being mach diamond patterns, and the equations necessary to solve the physical properties present across the cell boundaries.
*sigh* there's geek-hood, and geek-hood, hee.
-bs
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with regards to being kind when beta
I do agree with you re: the whole voice and style though. If the beta'ing process is done well, the writer will be aware of someone 'listening' to her work for the first time. The thing is, a lot of writers think that in order for writing to be 'worthy' it has to sound a certain way. Like, this person I beta'd for a bang, she had all these descriptors and twenty dollar words and a sort of faux, forced politeness, when her style was very sly, and quite funny. So we spent a lot of time getting away from the descriptors and twenty dollar words and strange politeness, and worked on getting the writing as clear as water. Her style came through, then in all its snarky glory.
I know what I do like to see when writing, such as a cool turn of phrase, description (not overly so, but enough to have a sense of 'place' in someone's work), and a feeling that the work is just so smooth and flowing. I know how hard that is to get right.
But I'm with you about finding a writer's work that you like, and really sit down and ask yourself why. Then ask yourself what you don't like, and then try and make your work something that you yourself will like, because sometimes, after I've written fanfic and put it out there, the only person that's liked it has been me. :D
Re: with regards to being kind when beta
It's funny, this past week I've been very much aware of style, more so than usual, and I'm finding I can't really sit back and enjoy fic without stopping to admire the way it is crafted. I hate that. I want to get lost in the flow.
because sometimes, after I've written fanfic and put it out there, the only person that's liked it has been me
I feel you there!
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Developing your own style is the hardest part I think, as there aren't any concrete rules to fall back on. A lot of suggestions sound like excellent ideas and are things that any writer should be doing already, I think.
I'll be adding this post to memories!
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but anyway, i've always thought in pictures. i've tried to get them out via art before, but something disconnects between my brain and my fingers when i do that - my art is kind of horrible. writing - well, physically *typing*, because the physical act of writing engages that same disconnect - seems to work pretty well unless i'm very tired. when i'm tired, i can't make the translation to words. i was rereading a Magnificent 7 story where one of the characters was drugged so as to make his thoughts 'a jumble of pictures and patterns, without the glue of words to hold them together.' the author describes this as confusing and disorienting, and i found myself thinking 'why would that be? i think in pictures and patterns all the time!' even though i'm not, sometimes i feel like i'm an ESL or something - especially when i'm tired, it can be really hard to match words up with my inner reality. when i'm writing, that's when the translation from my inner language to the outer world is perfect. or close to it, anyways.
-bs, thinky today
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So far, difficult, in that I haven't actually made myself do much writing yet. I've kind of stopped writing, or slowed down at least. But I'm planning to use a new style with something that's coming up soon, so we shall see what happens....