Writing Style

You’re looking at your first draft and all you can think of is covering your face with your draft. Sure you’ve got the skeleton of your story and you did meet the 100,000 word target (clap! Clap! Clap!) but let’s be honest – it’s pretty ugly. It’s time to edit your first draft.

We all have access to the 26 letters of the alphabet and the words available in the dictionary it is how we use these words that determines our style and gives our novel our voice. Style is basically the way you write rather than what you write.

Of course style is often the first casualty of your free writing process. As you write  it is important to consider your writing style. To an editor it will involve looking at mechanics such as grammar and punctuation; to the writer it will include looking at dialogue, description and narration. To develop your style, make sure to;

1.      Use words that come naturally to you.  Don’t go using awkwardly large or flowery language just because Shakespeare made his fortune through them.

2.      Use clear, direct and simple sentences. For every sentence check to make sure that you can’t make it shorter yet just as expressive.

3.      Check you descriptions for excessive use of adverbs, adjectives, stereotypes and clichés to express yourself

4.      Make sure not to repeat the same word or sentence structure over and over again. Check if you always start your sentences the same way or if you always use the same word. For instance if you find an influx of the word sometimes, try changing it into its synonyms like from time to time, ever so often and many more.

Your style of writing usually evolves naturally over time. It’s usually a combination of the kind of books you’ve read, your personality and the decisions you make as you write. The more you write, the more you’ll discover that there’s a natural way in which you write.

Focused Free Writing

Most writers can’t finish a book mainly because they become too fixated on details like grammar, dialogue and description too early in their writing. The first step to finishing your book it to…yes you got it…just finish the book. What is the difference between a sizzling piece of work and one that is boringly concise, one is planned and with the other, the writer let the story flow from his thoughts.

If you were to concisely write your fast draft it would mean that after every sentence you go through each word to make sure the sentence is perfect. You’ll probably be able to get away with this perfection for a chapter or two but after a while believe me you’ll be bored to death because your story is just not moving out of your brain as fast as you want it to.  By free writing you’re allowing the whole story to reveal itself before you start shaping it into something beautiful.

Free writing is just write continuously for a set amount of time without worrying about spelling, grammar, dialogue or description and no corrections are made. Since you know have your plot line all detailed out and you know what’s supposed to happen in each scene, this process will be much easier. Often this first draft will not be the book but it will give your book a firm foundation. When free writing;

1.      Give yourself a time limit of 30 – 60 minutes or a minimum word count.

2.      Keep your hand moving during this whole time limit. Do not pause to read what you’ve written.

3.      Write in a way that is most comfortable for you. If you type faster than you write; type. If vice versa then you know what to do.

4.      Choose an environment that is the least distracting for you and that you know helps you concentrate. Some people love the idea of being in a coffee shop with people milling around others just want to be locked in a room all alone with nothing but their computer.  As long as it works.

5.      Switch off your internal editor. Knock yourself out with the spelling mistakes, bad grammar, adverbs, metaphors and clichés, no one cares (at least not right now).

6.      Stop the research. I’ve been a culprit of this many times i.e. using research as an excuse for writing. Believe me during your first draft you need only the information you used in creating your synopses. If you don’t know the Israeli name for that new flat Mossad agent just name him Moses, highlight it with blue or underline and move on, you can sort him out later.

7.      And for Christ sake; Stay away from facebook, twitter, yahoo or your blog

Of course this means that your first draft will be doubly messy, but at least you’ve got something on paper now. The good thing about free writing is that you’ll always find yourself with more than you need rather than less. Then we can get into the hard work.

Point of View

As we begin writing choosing our point of view is a very crucial first step. Writers tend to be a bit touchier if told how to write (justifiably of course otherwise all books would read the same), so discussions on point of view end up being quite emotional as it is based on a lot of rules. The POV impacts the story and it is therefore important to understand it before you launch into writing.

Point of view is the perspective from which you will tell the story. Who’s head are you in as you tell the story? There are two main elements involved when discussing the point of view;

1.      The pronouns you will use to tell your story i.e. narrative point of view. You can choose to write your story in;

a)     First person POV

b)     Second Person POV

c)      Third person POV

2.      From whose point of view will the story be told i.e. view point character.

a)     Single POV Character

b)     Multiple POV Characters

At first glance it seems as if this is one of the easiest things you will have to do. However POV is much harder to master. One of the worst mistakes any writer can make is to choose a POV and start writing without actually knowing who their main character is. If you’re using a shy girl who has self esteem issues and you choose to use third person limited POV. It would be strange for her to see herself in the mirror and see her ‘long silk hair’ and ‘dove-like eyes’. She’s more likely to be seeing mud-colored strands and dull eyes. And don’t think no one will notice.

You may choose to use one narrative point of view and one view point character however writers tend to love a good challenge so often you will find yourself mixing up. It is therefore important to understand both elements. The trick is to be able to blend varying POVs by bending the rules but without jarring the rules.

POV is not just about the perspective you choose to use. It is also about the emotion you reveal using the POV character. Different characters will see one scene differently. For a father, a deserted island may be just the cure for some peace away from the bustle of the city.  For his daughter on the other hand, this is just another lonely place disconnected from her friends, gadgets and the things that make her life go round. You can see how your descriptions will change with your choice of view point character.

Characters

Good characters are like toys you made yourself. You know it’s going to be a hard task ahead because it will involve some sort of research but in the end it’s going to leave you feeling like God. They may be a bit flawed but somehow you fall in love with them anyway.  To make your readers fall in love with your characters you must love them yourself.  You must mold them, shape them so that they’re real characters with a body, a past, a personality and a future.

Their physical descriptions can be shown through the eyes of other characters. You can also use this to show other people’s opinions of them for instance; a tall boy with green eyes can be described by one character as being gangly with eyes the color of an abandoned pond while another would describe him as imposing and with witch emerald eyes that could sear past the soul.

Create a unique character with a personality who will transcend your book and differ from the rows and rows of boring stereotypical characters. Develop the traits of that character so much that the audience feels like they know the character by the end of the book but not like they’ve met them before. If I meet another dark haired Lothario with an athletic body whose only flaw is arrogance (which by the way will disappear as soon as the heroine chides him), I swear I’ll buff.  

You can present your character’s traits by their actions, speech and thoughts rather than words. Don’t say Joe is kind, show Joe helping out the lady next door paint her house (then show her turning into a werewolf on him…hehe). One technique of developing your character even more is to interview them. Ask them questions about themselves and imagine their answers and watch how they answer. Is red haired Timothy Griffin subdued as he answers your questions, almost frightened? Is Gwyneth extremely bubbly but you can see a bit of a frantic air in her?

As your story develops so should your characters. Your story is creating new experiences for your character and they need to readjust their characters to it. There is no way a happy go lucky character who goes through a the suspicious death of her mother, being forced to investigate it and finding out that everything she knew about her life was a lie and still remain the happy go lucky Sam.

While being God has its perks, you should know – you will probably have to kill off some of your beloved characters. Hey – at least you can make them martyrs that someone wants to avenge. The more times they appear in your plot the more information you’ll need to find out. 

NEXT

1. Physical Descriptions
2. Creating Personalities