Current mood:

amused

It's my Style!!
I was reading a book, and after reading over the chapter on style, I felt the need to write an essay. All too often people, when criticised, will pitch a fit and cry out "But it's my style!" Actually it's not, it's just you being stupid. Anyway, read the essay, the cricket commands you! Please? :)



Reading fanfiction, I see a lot of authors say “It’s my style.” They say this when you point out things varying from punctuation errors to confusing dialogue or simple incoherent writing. They cry, “You can’t criticize me, that’s my style!” I would like to point out that, no, it isn’t your style. It’s your ignorance.

In writing, your “style” is a culmination of all of your life experiences. Your style is how you remember things, how you describe them and how you view the world around you. It’s the things you choose to say and the things that you don’t. Style is not cosmetic; it’s the flesh of a piece.

In order to even begin testing out your style, you must fist be able to write. You must know how to form letters and words across a page or type with two hands and not henpeck at the keyboard. You must know how to spell. You must know the difference between a noun and a verb and their functions within a sentence. You must know how to use proper punctuation and the real function of a comma. That is not to say that you must know all of it before you can pick up a pencil, you just need a solid knowledge base to work with. People generally don’t walk around in dark caves without a map and a flashlight, nor should they attempt to write the next great novel without a basic understanding of how language works.

Once you have gathered together the basics, that is where style comes in. A style is like an accent if you will. Depending on where you live and who you associate with, you could develop a slow southern drawl or a nasal New York accent. You could pick up some street slang or even a pidgin language. People from London have different accents from people in Ottawa. The language is basically the same, but location and other life experiences determine whether or not you have a crisp accent or a smooth drawl. One accent is not the right accent or necessarily more correct than another. The fact that accents exist simply shows that people have different styles of speaking. When people from different locations get together, they might acquire new words or pick up twinges of the different accents. This only adds to the richness of their speech and in this way, an accent is like style.

While style is something that happens inherently, it is not something that happens from ignorance. As they say, ignorance of the laws does not exempt one from the consequences of breaking them. The same can be said of writing. Being ignorant of basic grammar rules, such as where to place a comma, does not excuse you from properly using them. Writing without commas is not style, its stupidity. You are not above grammar. Lack of grammar is not stylish or artistic, it’s stubborn and stuck up. All it proves to your audience is that you are either too lazy or too secure in your “genius” to do it properly. Such behavior will inevitably isolate your audience. That’s generally not a good idea, especially in a feedback driven art like fanfiction.

Your style is sort of like fashion sense. Everyone has it, though some peoples’ fashion sense could use a little (or a lot) of work. You can develop your fashion sense by watching and emulating others. Or it might come naturally and you are the one that is setting the trends that everyone else is trying to copy. What it all comes down to is the fact that it all comes back to you. You are unique and nobody has lived exactly as you have. Nobody thinks exactly like you do and nobody is going to see the world in exactly the same way. That is your style.

Style is your unique perspective. It is not something that you make up as you go along. It is always inside of you, changing as you change, evolving as you learn and becoming something that much more special each time you pick up something new. Style isn’t bad grammar, bad punctuation or terrible spelling. It’s not your struggle to be the next Shakespeare. It is the individual perspective that you bring to the table every time you decide to write. Once you understand this, you will be able to exercise you true sense of style. Once you discover your style, it is then that people will start to say things like “I like the style in their stories, it’s very unique.” Isn’t that so much better than hiding your ignorance of grammar behind the false cry of “It’s my style!”?