Let's Be Stylish =)

Some of these tips are meant to help determine your writing style in a particular book, not as a whole. I find it really annoying when the author switches styles in the middle of the book. Styles set the mood and emphasize the emotions of a story, and they're very important. Styles can hook a reader, or they can lose one. It's important to figure out what style you like or are using with a book, and then to stick with it.

I use these questions to analyze my writing if I've taken a long break from a particular work. If my styles suddenly switched, the book would feel broken.

However, I love it when people experiment with different styles, so I'm not saying to keep your old style in every single book. The problem comes, I think, when you switch styles in a respective book.

Like I've said, I use these to get myself back on track. I'll use them when I go back and edit my first NaNoWriMo book. Unlike what I probably should do, I'll let the sequel set the style. My writing has changed a lot, and I want it to line up.

1. Pay attention to what person you feel most comfortable in. Generally, there are three persons: 1st person, 2nd person, and 3rd person (I'm just telling you this to clarify, even though most of you guys probably know what I'm talking about). 1st person is the main character completely narrating the story. 2nd is from an observer point, with the author adding his input sometimes (an example is C.S. Lewis, I think). 3rd person is completely observing.

2. Notice what kind of verbs you use. Vivid? Hardly noticeable? Ordinary? Rare?

3. Also notice what kind of adjectives and adverbs you use.

4. Does your writing tend to go toward a more gothic, dark, serious mood; or a light, 'sugar and spice' mood that's more of a 'for fun' read than a 'serious read' ? I like to call the two styles 'Chocolate' and 'Cotton Candy'. =) I think I'm definitely more towards the Chocolate side, but I also enjoy Cotton Candy works. I think of Gail Carson Levine's books as Cotton Candy.

5. What writing style are you more attracted to in books? The garnished, frivolously strong descriptions of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald? The simpler, yet richer, Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis? Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke, that's pretty much an awesome combination of the two? Can you tell that the first is my least favorite? ;)

6. Do you rely more on narrative descriptive prose or a character talking to set the mood or plot for your story?

7. Do your characters tend to talk casually or seriously? If your book is in a medieval setting among high-end class characters, I would suggest a less colloquial talking style. In a more modern setting, I would definitely use more casual speech.

More on the last one...when I first started writing fantasy, my characters would talk like twentieth century kids. It was awful. Think:

"King Aergael impatiently tapped his foot and glowered at the knights gathered around the table. Armor flickered in the red torchlight as he called, "Come on, guys! We need to get that stuff!" "

Wow. "Guys" and "stuff" really ruins the mood set by the knights and the red torchlight. You think it would be really obvious to me, but actually I didn't even think about it. Luckily, iGirl edited the very first draft of that book and very quickly pointed my mistake out to me. If not, I could still be writing like that today. =)

Yours without wax,

Izori