If you'll recall my previous post in which I expressed my belief that what you write is exactly what you read, you can note this as a direct transition. To think that the styles of the books you read do not, in any way affect your own writing style, I would say is pure foolishness. Consider, for clarity, two apprentice painters with a time machine. They both go back in time, one to learn from Pablo Picasso, and the other from Leonardo Da Vinci. At the end of it all, will either of the painters paint the same way as the other? Absolutely not, and the same is true in writing. I will reiterate here, as I've stated earlier, that it is vitally important for any aspiring writer to read. You should flip through book, after book, after poem until you find a couple that cause you to pause a moment and remark upon the phrasing and the subtleties of each scene, until you've quite resolved yourself into thinking, "I don't just want to write. I want to write like that." At this point, it would be advisable to seek similar works of literature. If you visit a book store, you might see a helpful card that reads something along the lines of: If you liked ___, you might also want to try ___, ___, and ___."
For those who don't know what I mean when I say "styles of writing" I will, attempt to clarify the best way I know how. Below are very brief excerpts of books written in very different styles:
“Hades raised an eyebrow. When he sat forward in his throne, shadowy faces appeared in the folds of his black robes, faces of torment,as if the garment was stitched of trapped souls from the Fields of Punishment, trying to get out. The ADHD part of me wondered, off-task, whether the rest of his clothes were made the same way. What horrible things would you have to do in your life to get woven into Hades' underwear?”
― Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief
“Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery, and be overwhelmed by disappointments; yet, when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures.”
― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
“O serpent heart hid with a flowering face!
Did ever a dragon keep so fair a cave?
Beautiful tyrant, feind angelical, dove feather raven, wolvish-ravening lamb! Despised substance of devinest show, just opposite to what thou justly seemest - A dammed saint, an honourable villain!”
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
If you come across written works that give the aforementioned effect on your feelings, I encourage you to analyze them. Ask yourself what it is about this piece of writing that strikes you as different or remarkable. What do you like about this? What do you wish the writer would have done differently? From here, almost automatically, you'll find that your writing style morphs to reflect what you appreciated from the thing you had just read, and that likewise you exclude that which you did not appreciate. You may also deliberately take pieces of a style and insert it into your own if you wish it. As for the quote by Jules Renard which I used to head this blog, think back to Picasso's style of painting. Would he be as renowned as he is today if he allowed himself to be held back by the trends of his day? What if he painted in the conventional way that everyone wanted to paint in? I'll leave you to think on that. Meanwhile, I'd advise you to start as described above, by using the styles of other writers to aid you. From there, don't be afraid to go your own way, and make a signature style that's all your own.
For those who don't know what I mean when I say "styles of writing" I will, attempt to clarify the best way I know how. Below are very brief excerpts of books written in very different styles:
“Hades raised an eyebrow. When he sat forward in his throne, shadowy faces appeared in the folds of his black robes, faces of torment,as if the garment was stitched of trapped souls from the Fields of Punishment, trying to get out. The ADHD part of me wondered, off-task, whether the rest of his clothes were made the same way. What horrible things would you have to do in your life to get woven into Hades' underwear?”
― Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief
“Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery, and be overwhelmed by disappointments; yet, when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures.”
― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
“O serpent heart hid with a flowering face!
Did ever a dragon keep so fair a cave?
Beautiful tyrant, feind angelical, dove feather raven, wolvish-ravening lamb! Despised substance of devinest show, just opposite to what thou justly seemest - A dammed saint, an honourable villain!”
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
If you come across written works that give the aforementioned effect on your feelings, I encourage you to analyze them. Ask yourself what it is about this piece of writing that strikes you as different or remarkable. What do you like about this? What do you wish the writer would have done differently? From here, almost automatically, you'll find that your writing style morphs to reflect what you appreciated from the thing you had just read, and that likewise you exclude that which you did not appreciate. You may also deliberately take pieces of a style and insert it into your own if you wish it. As for the quote by Jules Renard which I used to head this blog, think back to Picasso's style of painting. Would he be as renowned as he is today if he allowed himself to be held back by the trends of his day? What if he painted in the conventional way that everyone wanted to paint in? I'll leave you to think on that. Meanwhile, I'd advise you to start as described above, by using the styles of other writers to aid you. From there, don't be afraid to go your own way, and make a signature style that's all your own.