II. What Are Different Types Of Writing Style?

Walk into a library. Pick up a random book. Compare it to another random book. And another. And another. And another. I absolutely guarantee that none of those books will be the exact same thing (unless you picked up two copies, which doesn't count). Just like there are gazillions of characters and plots there are also gazillions of writing styles.

Writing styles tend to match the plot, thus giving the book an overall 'feel'. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, for example, has a beautiful but very simple and almost childish style because the story is a child's perception of the issue of racism. The Great Gatsby by L. Scott Fitzgerald is written in a very frivolous, almost exaggeratedly descriptive manner that echoes the overall plot of empty riches. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events has a consistently quirky feel, and if you've ever read those books you know 'quirky' is a good word for the plot-line.

After thinking for a while, I finally decided to group writing styles into two groups.

1. Simple. Folks like C.S. Lewis and Harper Lee pull this off extraordinarily well, but if you're not careful it can sound really wooden. Styles that are verb-driven tend to fall under this, as well as stories that are told from the eyes of children. Just because the style is simple doesn't mean that the book can't be rich, meaningful, and deep.
2. Complex. Usually this style is very adjective/adverb-driven, with descriptions and attention to detail. If you've ever read Eragon by Christopher Paolini, you know what I'm talking about. Well-used, this style can take you a long way and give the reader a solid mental image, but used incorrectly and it becomes silly and clogged.
   

Many times those two classifications overlap, and of course they're extremely general. However, you can see that they both have defining characteristics, such as what type of word is most prominent.

Now that we loosely know what types of writing styles there are, we can move on to: 'What Are Ways That I Can Improve My Writing Style?'

Yours without wax,

Izori