When you say style what do you mean? I think most writers have a sound. I can pick up a horror book and start reading and get a sense if it is Stephen King. I can pick up a justice/legal book and sense John Grisham on the pages. Jodi Piccoult . . . yeap, I know her rhythm. If that is what you mean by style . . . yes, writers nail one down. They tend to use certain words, describe in a certain way, build stories in a certain way. Most writers say they are influenced by certain authors or experiences in their life. Those influences and experiences travel down their fingers and on to the pages without their awareness. There are changes from story to story, because the story changes, the characters change, the editors change. And when they write in a different genre you will see some changes in that style, but there are features that remain.
I love Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Jane Austen. So my stories tend to have a dark and tender quality to them. I love to cook and I love colors. I am a psychologist, so I hear and understand human struggles in a unique way most do not. So when I write, you will see the influence of those classic writers, my love of colors, food, and knowledge of human struggles. Those things are woven into me and create a tapestries that are undeniable mine regardless of the change in thread color or pattern (genre). Because each time I create a new tapestry, I will use the techniques that are familiar, that I love, that feel natural. Those represent me.
Now if you mean style as the voice a character takes or the nuances of a genre. Well, those things change. How a 16-year-old handles a situation in a book will be different than a 40-year-old-lawyer. Hopefully anyway. And the word choices will change in sophistication . . .hopefully because you have a different character, a different genre.
I don't know how you develop your style. The best answer I have is evaluate what you love about certain writers. Don't steal. But how can you weave those threads into your fabric, your writing. What makes you feel alive in your life and how do get those sensations on paper. Just an opinion--long winded--but just an opinion.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2009-10-25 02:47 pm (UTC)I love Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Jane Austen. So my stories tend to have a dark and tender quality to them. I love to cook and I love colors. I am a psychologist, so I hear and understand human struggles in a unique way most do not. So when I write, you will see the influence of those classic writers, my love of colors, food, and knowledge of human struggles. Those things are woven into me and create a tapestries that are undeniable mine regardless of the change in thread color or pattern (genre). Because each time I create a new tapestry, I will use the techniques that are familiar, that I love, that feel natural. Those represent me.
Now if you mean style as the voice a character takes or the nuances of a genre. Well, those things change. How a 16-year-old handles a situation in a book will be different than a 40-year-old-lawyer. Hopefully anyway. And the word choices will change in sophistication . . .hopefully because you have a different character, a different genre.
I don't know how you develop your style. The best answer I have is evaluate what you love about certain writers. Don't steal. But how can you weave those threads into your fabric, your writing. What makes you feel alive in your life and how do get those sensations on paper. Just an opinion--long winded--but just an opinion.