Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Do we have different styles of writing? My answer from my personal experience as a writer is Yes. Just as we have different thought patterns, different levels of understanding and different levels of knowledge so we have different styles of writing. I start my fiction writing with deep thinking over the idea of the story to get a storyline and a general, straight-cut, view of the story. Drawing a synopsis of the story follows. I draw the synopsis and after relook and rethink on it to ensure it contains features of literature like goal, suspense, obstacles, resolution etcetra, and it’s well structured. My main writing begins after I am satisfied with this relook. I have come to discover in the process of my writing that my diction and arrangement of ideas are influenced by my thought pattern, my level of understanding and my level of knowledge.

Does our writing style affect our books and people's view of our books? Yes, it does. The better the style the more brief, lively and beautiful our work.

I agree!

I too agree.

I agree with most of this. But also think it's good to be able to modify our writing style according to what we're writing. For instance, one of my books is a kind of SF Arabian nights tale, so although I wouldn't normally write in an over-the-top way, I did for that because I believed it was right for that particular story. I think my regular style still peeps through but there are also things I wouldn't normally put in, in that story - and it's one of my most popular books. <3

Enjoyed reading how you go about creating, Bernard. I fly by the seat of my pants and mostly get lost so I see you as a beacon. Will squawk every time my lost self catches sight of you while flying by.

pkswan

Well, to some degree form follows function. Certainly, the plot of a work like "Flowers for Algernon" determined the prose style, as will decisions about whether to write in the first or third person, to introduce dream sequences or fantasy or to have an unreliable narrator.
For me, the biggest issue I have with a lot of contemporary fiction is that there is no distinctive voice. If you removed the author's name from the cover, the prose styles seem indistinguishable. I would prefer not to mention authors I consider to be too homogenized to be interesting, but I would never confuse Jane Austen with Edith Wharton, or Robert Ludlum with Elmore Leonard.