Developing Your Writing Style

Becoming a Lifelong Learner of the Craft of Writing

By author, editor, educator Shon Bacon aka ChickLitGurrl™

If I told you to develop your writing style, would you know what I meant?

If your answer is “No,” then this new column of The Write Life for You is…FOR you!

Here’s a quick definition of style:  the way you put together a sentence or group of sentences.

The problem with figuring out style is there is no one sure way.  It’s subjective.  Depending on different forms of writing (essays, articles, stories, etc.) and different disciplines (science, art, humanities, etc.), style may differ.

What I want to provide in this column is a list of tips that can help you foster your writing style.  By becoming a true learner of the writing craft and understanding what you need to do to develop the stories that burn inside of you, these tips and other things you’ll learn throughout TWL4U’s tenure will become second nature to you.

To develop your writing style:

1. First, focus on YOUR STORY.  What’s your story about?  What themes are present in your story?  Who are your characters?  What is the tone of the work?  Before you can even focus on the nuances of style, you have to understand your work as fully as possible.  You are the creator of this work – no one else.  Everything we are to know and believe of the work must be derived from you.

Once you have a firm sense of your work, focusing on the other tips can be an easier journey.  Now, this doesn’t mean your story is PERFECT; it just means that you understand what you are trying to do with your creation.

2. Avoid WORDINESS.  If you have a clear understanding of what your story is about, you can read your work to erase wordiness and leave your work with strong, concise prose.  Wordiness includes clichés, qualifiers, and stock phrases.  If you spot a cliché, ask yourself, “What am I really trying to say here?” By doing this, you’ll more than likely find a stronger way to write the line.  Qualifiers are words like (very, often, hopefully, practically, basically, really, mostly) – they take a strong statement and muddy it with vagueness.  By eliminating most of these, your writing will only improve.  Stock phrases are groups of words that replace one or two words.  Here are a few examples (the shortened version of each is in parentheses):  Due to the fact that (because), Despite the fact that (although), In the event that (if), Concerning the matter of (about), It is important that (must).  By continuously asking your, “What am I really trying to say here,” you can help eliminate many of these wordiness issues.

3. Check your VERBS.  Do this for two things:  to have active voice in your writing and to create strong verbs.  Readers expect to see ACTION in your story.  They want the characters to perform, to act – not necessarily be acted upon.  When characters perform the action, we have active voice.  When the characters are acted upon, we have passive voice – which is seen with the use of “to be” verbs.  Let’s say Stella is the main character of a story.  If we write, “Stella was killed by the angry mob,” are we doing passive or active voice?  If you thought “passive,” you’re right.  We could make this a stronger statement by writing, “The angry mob killed Stella.”  Look for “to be” verbs and “have” verbs in your writing; if you can find strong, more meaningful verbs to replace them, you can help develop your style and the strength of your prose.

4. Pay attention to WORD CHOICE.  Listen to your work with your narrator’s ears; the words you use must illustrate the natural reflection of your narrator.  Your words must illustrate the natural reflections of your characters, too.  For example, most people talk in contractions.  When I read prose that is full of “cannot” and “is not” and “do not” and “should not,” I hear elevation in the voice of the character, I feel a coldness, a stiffness to the character; it doesn’t sound real to me.  At the end of the day, you want your characters and your narrator(s) to be as real as you are.  Make sure their words reflect that.

5. Avoid STEREOTYPES.  It’s easy to fall into the “stock character” trap.  People in the hood act “this” way; whereas, people in metropolitan areas act “that” way.  Black characters must be X, and white characters must be Y.  Though some (and I’m part of that some) would argue that for every stereotype there is a drop of truth, using stereotypes shows that you are not using your creativity, you are not making your characters, your storylines intrinsically yours.

The last two tips seem silly, but you’d be amazed at how many writers DON’T follow them.

6. READ voraciously.  Read, and read everything.  Don’t just read the genres you write in.  Don’t just read the genres you love to read.  Read a myriad of things.  We often develop our style – in the early stages of our writing – by emulating those before us.  I adore Toni Morrison for her poetic style, and once in a blue moon, someone might find a line of mine that’s full of poetic verve.  By reading, you can learn what you like and don’t like, and knowing that can help you focus your writing to where you want it to be.

7. WRITE.  Write whenever you can.  You can’t work out the bad things in your writing if you don’t write.  Simply reading about how to be a better writer won’t do.  You need to practice your craft, to have an eye for what to fix in your work, and then practice some more.  Someone said “Practice makes perfect” for a reason.

Thanks for checking me out @ The Write Life for You; come back next month – I’ll be talking about PLOT.

ChickLitGurrl ~ signing out

Shon

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