You do you

Chapter 4 - Your writing style, and the dos and don'ts

Let’s talk about writing styles or should I say the dos and don'ts while still sticking to your writing style!

I want to start by saying that before you even start, you need to make peace with the fact that no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to write your book in such a way that EVERYONE will like it.

Whether you write in first or third person, whether you write from one point of view or many points of view. There will always be someone who doesn’t like your specific writing style, but don’t lose hope.

Just as there are readers who don’t like it, there WILL be readers who love it. Here I also want to mention that as time goes by, you will find that your writing style grows as you grow in your craft.

I’ve had a reader tell me straight out that the book couldn’t have been written by me because it’s nothing like anything I’ve written before, LOL. It is crucial that you feel free to experiment. Writing is a creative flow and if you try to force it into a certain pattern you will cause your creative thinking harm and might even cause yourself writer’s block.

This doesn’t mean that I’m saying throw the entire rule book out of the window! There are certain common rules to follow that won’t interfere with your flow, so let’s look at some of these.

1. Grammar and punctuation:

Grammar and punctuation are a problem, even for the best of the best. I’ve found silly mistakes in well-known published books, but it is important that you try your best to eliminate as many of these mistakes as possible before publishing.

Good grammar and punctuation will put your book one step ahead of the rest from the start. Search the web for some free sites where you can check for these mistakes and, if English isn’t your first language, try to find some readers who will read through your work and point out mistakes.

Don’t get disheartened when these mistakes are pointed out. Work on them and make sure that in the future you do your best not to make them again. You can even keep a notebook to help remind you of things that keep happening. This way, you can work through each chapter before publishing to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes over again.

2 First or third persons:

As with all things regarding writing, this is another tough subject. Should I write in the first or third person?

My answer: You do you.

Write in the view that feels natural to you. Again, there is an enormous amount of information on the internet to guide you on how to do it, but in the end, it comes down to what style feels natural to you. The main thing to keep in mind, however, is to stick to the one you choose from beginning to end. Jumping from one to the other and back causes confusion and makes your piece tedious to read.

If you are writing from different points of view, ensure that you show your reader whose point of view you are referring to. Whether it is showing the person’s name at the start of it, or referring to them in some way, it is important to clearly specify who the character is. Trying to figure out whose point of view it could be, might make you may lose readers. They want to enjoy a book, not solve a math problem. Why is Y always looking for his X? The moment letters became part of math, I lost my plot completely!

Another thing to note when you are writing from different points of view is to not switch between them too much, too quickly. Try to make your story flow. I know it can get exciting when your creativity takes hold and wants to run away, but should this happen, perhaps sit down and make notes of what is happening first, and then write it in a more sensible order.

3. Tenses!:

This is most definitely my worst subject ever. I have never been able to get it right, yet when I read a book and the tenses don’t flow right, the book doesn’t make much sense.

Grammar programs help fix this to a certain extent, but what if you have something that happened in the past that you want to tell now? I have found that marking something like a “Flashback” and then indicating the “End of Flashback” eases this problem a lot.

It is important to also stay in the same tense right through your book. If you start a book in the past, it would be best to keep it in the past. If you are telling your story in the present tense, use dividers to indicate past events.

4. Dialogue:

A teacher once told me that I should stop writing a script…

I love using dialogue to enhance my stories. I didn’t even look up the “rules” regarding the use of dialogue in my books, and some chapters consist entirely outside of the dialogue.

It’s part of my style, and something I refuse to budge on. I use dialogue to give insight into my characters and their personalities, as well as some events happening at that time.

However… There are certain things you need to keep in mind when you use dialogue.

Each character has their own voice in your mind while you write. You need to portray that voice in the best way possible. The way they talk, the words they use, and here character mannerisms also play a huge part in giving the reader insight into the picture you are painting of your character.

5. Triggers / Hot and bothered scenes / Violence and Language: (The dreaded restrictions!)

I am combining all of these under one headline because they are the number one problem for each writer at one stage or another. Whether it’s writing such a scene or dealing with a reader that doesn’t like what you wrote, it’s unavoidable.

Life is not a fairy tale and, as life imitates art, imitates life… All books and stories have their share of tension. If it didn’t, most readers would find it boring and move on to the next book.

First and foremost, vulgarity is never acceptable, even if there are people who crave to read about it! When your character feels the need to swear… There are ways of writing things in such a way that you don’t promote vulgarity in life.

You can write about triggers, abuse, rape, violence, and all things socially unacceptable and horrific without making it sound glamorous. You can find words that refer to the thing but isn’t the actual thing.

Now, this is probably going to raise some eyebrows, because some people prefer to call a spade a spade, but unfortunately, it’s not always possible. Keep in mind the age group and audience you intend to reach.

I need to point out that if you have marked your book according to the age restriction requirement, you’ve tagged it with the necessary indicators, and you’ve added your trigger warnings where you feel they are needed, whether at the start of the book or in front of each chapter, you have done the best you can to inform your reader of what is to follow. You cannot put a trigger warning ahead of every single scene for sensitive readers.

Whether you enjoy writing them or are brand new at writing them, this is a subject you need to properly think through and read through a couple of times before publishing to make sure that what you put out to your readers is reasonable and socially acceptable.

I’ve found that in this instance, the expression less is more has had a more powerful impact than giving a detailed description of what is happening. Use your senses, sit back and see the scene playing out in front of you and describe it first, then look at how much of what you’ve described really counts in the big picture of your book.

6. Descriptions (The difference between showing and telling the story):

As a writer, you feel this insatiable need to describe the tiniest detail in your book. It’s what you do.

Some readers will love it, others will want to imagine it for themselves.

My advice? Find a balance between what you describe. If you’ve already shown a certain setting, don’t describe it again.

I always tell new writers to imagine themselves as a detective or journalist who has to report on what they see, feel, hear, taste and smell. But a word of warning to those of you who simply convey the facts of the matter. You don’t want to simply tell your story. You want to use descriptions to show the reader your story.

Use descriptions wisely and be careful not to overdo them by using elaborately long and difficult to read descriptions. This is where a writer’s language skills will hugely come into play, and if you struggle with this subject, I suggest that you read as much as possible to help you on your way. Or find a “word for the day” dictionary to help you to grow your vocabulary.

Unconventional words will make it difficult for readers to follow a story, as they will either have to search for the meaning or simply skip the word and miss the part of the story that you worked so hard on.

I know there are probably going to be many experts who disagree with the above, but this is simply my humble opinion and what I’ve experienced through the years.

I’ve written down my raw feelings at that very moment and gone back later to read it, only to find that it hit me so hard, I couldn’t read it again. On the flip side of that coin, I’ve written some pieces where I sat laughing while writing it, and others where I either cried or even cringed, thinking that readers are going to think me mad for writing it, and in most instances, if I go back to something I wrote a while ago, my usual reaction is one of “I couldn’t have written that!”

In the end, what you put out is your story. It should be the best of what you want to share with the world and, since you’ve taken the time to write it, why not take the time to make it the best you’ve written to date?

I am a firm believer that anyone can become a writer. Yes, it’s easier for some than for others, but with hard work and dedication, all skills can be learned.

Even after following all these rules, in the end, your writing style will be unique to you. Your use of words, the way you describe things, the characters you create. All of that is what makes your writing style yours.

I hope that this chapter will guide you as you find your writing style, and You do you.

Happy writing

XX