Writing Style...yours?

[eyez0nme]

Just curious as to what type of writing style people use. Now I'm not wondering what kind of genre you like, I'm asking how you write your stories. Do you use a lot of detail, humor what kind of narrating voice you use, that sort of thing.

I prefer standard past-tense style narrating voice (As Megan walked into the room she could feel all eyes watching her) I usually use the standard style for more laid back kind of stories. But I also like to use the other style where the narrator is the main character's perception, and usually I do that in present-tense. (As I walk into the room, I can feel all eyes watching me.)

I pretty much have humor in all of my stories. It's hard for me not to find the humor in things because that's just the kind of person I am. It's definately a challenge for me when I want to sit down and write an actual scary story, bereft of all humor.

I like to make my writing sound kind of cool. Use short sentences and paragraphs. Almost like a poem. I won't do this through the whole story but definately as much as I can. Or I try to word a dramatic part in a way that it sounds pretty awesome, but not overboard.

Where I'm effortless is my characters. I've been making up characters since I was 10, so I've gotten pretty good at it, as well as dialogue. But where I struggle at is my plot. Everytime I come up with a good idea I'll be writing and suddenly I'll start thinking about a plot and two days later I've decided it's a hopeless story.

Does anybody here change writing styles for different genres?

 

[GreenKnight]

I think that I aim for a kind of character-biased third person narration. What do I mean by that??!

I mean that the viewpoint character is referred to in the third person, but the style of the narrative around them uses the tone of voice they might use, and notice the things they might notice. I've read many authors who do this and think it works really well (for them, anyway!).

 

[ValkyrieRaven88]

I do that as well. I know some people who write it so that you can see into every character's head at once, and I don't like that. I only use one point of view per scene, and I always use a divider such as asterisks if, for whatever reason, I suddenly switch point of view.

I sometimes experiment with first-person in short stories and other things, but I prefer being able to suggest things that the person might not like the audience to know about them, which is hard for me to do in first-person. I tried a few times to write in present-tense, but it distracts me, so I gave it up. I only write in past tense.

I only use humor where it comes naturally into the story. The novel I'm working on is sort of a horror story, but there are funny moments in it. I think any author who believes that they can write an interesting story without the slightest bit of humor is kidding themselves. Even if it's not riotously funny things, it's always nice to have a little bit of comic relief, and I think it's much more enjoyable for the reader, even one who likes, dark, stormy, gory stories.

I tend to deviate a bit from grammatical rules in narrative form, mostly for stylistic effect. If you look at one of my essays and one of the chapters from my novel, it looks as if an entirely different person wrote them. I like breaking a few of the rules--I use fragments, I use contractions, whatever I feel like. I can saftely say that I don't misspell things on purpose like "kewl" or "lurve" as some teenage writers do. I cringe every time I am reading a story by a teenage writer and see that.

I'm good at character and dialogue, because when it comes to dialogue, I just let my characters do the talking and each one has a distinct voice. Too many people try too hard with it and each character speaks exactly the same way and has no personality. I'm terrible at fight scenes, which isn't good since I'm writing stories that require action. I just don't know how to describe the things that the characters are doing. They always look so weak and come out sort of like cooking instructions. Very lifeless, you know: "He swung at her, she ducked and kicked him; he stomped on her foot, she yelled loudly and punched him in the face." I don't know. It's just boring and I can't manage to spice it up.

In narrative, I don't really change my style from genre to genre, although in my darker stories you're more likely to hear descriptions of gross things, but I wouldn't really say that's style.

 

[SevenWritez]

I like to experiment with writing styles, but generally I go into one characters head per scene and tend to put a small dash after a scene (or throw them in constantly while in one), so that I can let the reader know that the same event is going to take place through another characters eyes. I've never enjoyed having characters thrown away in favor of just showing the story from one person, so that is one thing I try to keep focused on (unless I'm feeling lazy and just want to get to the next part).

Anyhow, as of late I've noticed that my writing has been becoming a wannabe version of Stephen King's style, minus all the little details he throws in (or not, as I've been proof reading some of my short stories and being shocked to see things I didn't remember typing). I love throwing in humor, but more so in the way things are described and not in dialogue. Seeing as I'm only 15, I still don't know much about the ranges of human pesonality and wit, so when it comes to dialogue I try to stick to what I hear when I'm with my friends or listening to adults (and, of course most of this being in school, it becomes hard for me to try and make a convincing 28-year-old persona while relying on my highschool speech).

I guess, in simple terms, my style is to go with the flow. I turn on music, sit at a bookstore, whip out my laptop, and type as fast as I can. Some stories I have written tend to be ignorantly vulgar and bloody, and others seem to be more calm and serene in the way I approached them. My writing is just a mimic of what I am currently enjoying in terms of reading, but with my own ideas and wit thrown in (but hey, can anyone really explain themself? I find it hard).

 

[ValkyrieRaven88]

Everyone starts out by mimicking other people, so don't feel bad. I still do it to some extent. I actually got my start writing fanfiction, which I still dabble in, but I had to completely borrow other people's characters, settings, and everything. It's good excercise for the writer's brain.

What I hate is when I start writing something, then when I'm done it's totally different from the approach I was trying to take--like, one character is supposed to be funny but just turns out being annoying. Grr.

 

[Stewart]

I just write. If I have style, then it's not a conscious thing. Example here.

 

[SevenWritez]

Everyone starts out by mimicking other people, so don't feel bad. I still do it to some extent. I actually got my start writing fanfiction, which I still dabble in, but I had to completely borrow other people's characters, settings, and everything. It's good excercise for the writer's brain.

What I hate is when I start writing something, then when I'm done it's totally different from the approach I was trying to take--like, one character is supposed to be funny but just turns out being annoying. Grr.

I hear you on the first statement of the second paragraph. I go into a short story expecting to make some quick horror story or vulgar melodrama (whichever Study Hall has bored me enough ot tackle on that particular week), then end up making a 30-40 page story about love. Character wise, I let them do their thing. I go in with an idea and see how they turn out; in my opinion, unless the character has one major role or scene that the story needs to be complete/coherent, it's just best to sit back and see what they turn in to.