In my previous post on the subject of style, I mentioned how style is not achieved by merely the order of words on the page but through all aspects of writing as they coalesce into a whole.
Another way of looking at style is through the words of author Lowell Cauffiel who says, “Style is not how a writer puts words together but what he perceives and how he thinks.” He says beginning writers often think of style as how words are put together—i.e. they think, “Should I write sparsely like Hemingway or use more words like Faulkner?”
Cauffiel says style is not about word techniques but how you perceive the world around you and how you relay that information. Read more
I was on a business call the other night speaking with a man who lived in Oregon when we added another woman to the call. As soon as this third party joined us, the man’s voice and manner changed. He went from sounding very normal and nondescript to suddenly sounding like a cross between Yogi Bear and a Scottish Highlander. I was totally freaked out.
He continued in this voice and manner for the entire call. Why? Did he secretly have a crush on the other woman and this was his way of sounding “debonair?” Was he terrified of her and used this new voice and manner to distance himself? I have no clue.
In the craft of writing, this Yogi Bear/Highlander persona could be called a character’s or narrator’s voice. Voice is one element of a writer’s style–that five letter word that many writers seem to have a hard time defining.
Style relates to how the writer puts words on the page—the arrangement of the words—but it’s also more than that.
This slippery term more or less means the way the story is told; i.e. the patterns of words, phrases, and sentences through which the writer achieves certain effects….Style is the means by which the writer’s subject matter, passions, and interests reach their fullest expression on the page.
He explains that most writers fall somewhere between Ernest Hemingway (sparse) and Angela Carter (lush) and also between the painter Chagall (who always painted in the same style) and Picasso (who experimented and mastered many styles). Read more
Besides writing literary classics Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut was a professor. He taught at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Harvard University, and City College of New York. His tips for writing a good short story have become classics in their own right.
I’ve pasted his tips in a notebook as part of my writing and revision checklist. The list gives me structure for analyzing my work and asking if I’ve done everything I can to add depth and meaning to my stories. Whether you’re writing a short story, memoir, or a novel, the tips I’ve listed below apply.
Maybe you’ll want to add them to your own writing and revision list:
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one or two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading character, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they’re made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
The video below shows some great photos of Vonnegut throughout his life. If you’d like more ideas for what to add to your revision list, read Carol’s post, Make your writing stronger by removing filter words.
When editing my work, I inevitably discover more of my bad habits. When I do, I add them to my editing list so I can be sure to catch them later. Some of these bad habits are listed in my post, “Edit out literary throat clearing to make your work stronger.”
My current work-in-progress is told from the first person point of view. In reviewing recent chapters, I discovered I was using too many “filter” words: I saw, felt, heard, thought, noticed, and especially, I “glanced.” Cheez Whiz. I must have had this last verb six times in one chapter!
But it’s not just first person narrative where this is a writing sin. How many times have you read, “She touched, he heard, she saw, he felt…?” Read more
Sometimes my brain circuitry feels like it’s got a short in it. It went on vacation and left me home. Or it’s buzzing and I just can’t settle down. Or, I’m just stumped about what direction I should go with a story or poem.
Has this ever happened to you? If so, consider trying a few of these strategies.
1. Change tools. If you’re tapping out your sentences on your computer, pick up a pen or pencil and write by hand in a notebook. For that matter, some people enjoy typing on an actual typewriter. Read more
After a year of focusing on my business and taking care of various family members, I’m working on re-developing a daily writing habit. It feels a bit like learning a new job. I notice resistance to the actual act of sitting my bum in my chair and writing. I also notice I’ve developed the attention span of a gnat.
In my life and business, I’m an incredible multitasker. I won’t go into the details in case you’ve read them before (see my post “How to reclaim your life and energy for your art”). But I’ve been finding that multitasking can actually make you less productive—especially if you’re an artist or a writer.
As Heather Sellers states in her book, Chapter after Chapter, writing is slow work. She relates it to the Slow Food Movement that was born to counter fast food chains taking over the world. Slow food is about being conscious of what you put in your mouth, of where your food is coming from, and whose pocket you are lining when you buy your food.
Writing is a conscious art form. Sure, we can whip off an e-mail or a blog post, but poetry, screen plays, and novels take time to develop. Art takes time. During your actual writing time, you can’t multitask, you have to slow down. Sellers says she can type 137 words-per-minute but it doesn’t mean they’ll be good words. It doesn’t mean they’ll be juicy words. She says writing isn’t typing. Read more
Jeff Vandermeer defines style as follows:
onewildword 