Lucid Writing Advice V by Antavius S. Flagg

Five ways to find your style of writing best for you

The blunt voice
The articulate voice
The first person
The third person
The dreadful author interruption
There are no authors out there who are completely the same, each one has his or her own style, which no one can match. If you don’t have a style of writing, or have lost your voice or just haven’t found one, then the following is for you.

THE BLUNT VOICE

You may be wondering to yourself what in the world do I mean by ‘blunt voice’, and in a way I’m thinking the same thing. But blunt voice, along with articulate voice, are styles that you may find interesting. Everyone writes with their own style in mind, and you probably won’t find that style anywhere else except from the same author. I have style of my own, and so do you and the other authors here at sffworld.

Styles usually are aspects of your writing that you can’t possibly help, it happens without you being aware of it, and yet you create it every time you write a word.

If you would like to experiment, let me show you a passage that is in the ‘blunt voice’.

The dark pond was an endless stretch of black from bank to bank. The sickle moon, finally revealing itself from a shroud of gray clouds, cast its morbid shadow across the still surface. Somewhere a heron called, another answering it hidden within the gloom. Crickets whistled in the dank still air..

Cool winds frolicked the waist-high grass on the banks as if it was lace waiting to be braided in a knot. But somewhere, perhaps from the black outline of mountains in the east, a thing brayed in protest. The thick call filled the air, and in the ground it was a terrible shudder.

The words in this passage are simple and straightforward. As with the first sentence ‘The dark pond was an endless stretch of black from bank to bank,’ you can see that this writer described the pond in three words: dark, endless, and black. You should be able to picture this pond in your mind as it stretched between the two banks. Also note how this author didn’t go into a whole lot of detail, mainly just floating above the surface and telling things at an offhanded rate. The scene just hits us in the face, yet we have an idea what is going on.

This voice seems to fit will with the dark mood of the passage, but I must warn you that it won’t work all the time. Sometimes you just have to give your words an imaginative boost. That’s where the articulate voice comes in.

THE ARTICULATE VOICE

Susana twirled in a ring of shimmering golden light, trapped in the music that floated intimately around her. Her arms rose and fell with the tune while her legs spun her around the white marble floor as if she was gliding on ice. All the others stopped and stared in wonder as she jumped placidly into the air. For a moment there was a gasp of surprise as she landed without a stammer on the other side of the dance hall.

When the music rose in pitch she smiled and through her head back with laughter. The sound itself enough to bring envy to the chimes of heaven. In serene grace she jumped again and landed in his outstretched arms. The crowd thundered into applause as she kissed him, and he held her close.

The voice in this passage has a light-hearted tang to it, with all the description going on. It almost seems to flow with Susana as she dances across the marble hall. This type of writing is free, and usually doesn’t slow down unless it needs to. But of course these are just examples of different types of voices, and you may find them not all that great, so do what authors are known for: make your own.

THE FIRST PERSON

Before I begin this, let me say that I’m not really a fan of the first-person but sometime, sometimes, I find it enjoying. Now, back to the article…the first person is a device that a select group of writers may feel is best for there story. And in thinking this those writers will write that story, and they suddenly discover that ‘ I’ is just appearing too many times and the character’s name appears maybe once or twice. Every corner we turn ‘I’ is there to greet us with it ghoulish smile.

When we pull on a door ‘ I’ is there to say how the sweat on our palms made it hard to turn. ‘I’ is always curious and yet it takes a long time for I’ to really do anything. When we run I’ tells us how are heart was beating until I’ said we had to give up and let the thing that was chasing I’ get I’

OKAY, enough of that. If you favor the first-person, then you should at least know this much…don’t use that god-forsaken I’ too much. It will tire your reader, and in will certainly tire you. Don’t overuse it.

In first-person, however, you have a unique ability of describing things first hand, than you would have if you were describing it through another character. It’s more of a down-to-earth kind of voice, and it plants the reader’s shoes right there where all the action is happening. But the first person can be a gnat that many readers will want to swat as soon as it starts to bug them.

If you plan on writing a series using the first-person then you have a lot of tidying up to do in not overusing the dreaded I’ Here is a passage below written with poor I’ .

I lurched myself into the bottom of the ship. Fumbling over the captain’s body, I ran where I thought was the direction of the stern. I yelped when I realized I had gone the wrong way. Stopping, panting, I retraced my steps back until I found the body laying there. A thought came over me, and I turn the body over.

A soundless shriek escaped my throat as I stared down into my own lifeless eyes. At last my scream came, and I rain back onto the deck screaming.

Total I’ count-11. And three in the third sentence.

Let’s see if we can’t write it better:

I lurched myself into the bottom of the ship. Fumbling over the captain’s body, I headed where my mind told me must be the stern. With a yelp I knew I was going the wrong way and had to turn back around. With ease I came back to the same spot where I was before, yes it was the same spot because the captain’s body was still there. A thought struck as one of my hands reached out and turned the body over. My lifeless eyes appraised me in the darkness.

The scream caught my throat as my legs moved away. Finally it came to me, and my legs took me back onto the deck screaming.

Total I’ count: 6 I have even increased the word count from 89 to 116 without destroying the reader’s imagination with too much I’ If you see another way that this passage can be written with less of them, try it and see can you get it down to using just five, yet keeping the structure of the scene.

THE THIRD PERSON

Ah, the third-person, the voice that many find appealing and so write their stories with it. The third person is the voice that lets the narrator have fun in doing what it wants. It is carefree at times, but yet it gives us a thorough examination of any story. The third-person can do away with using I to many times, and we can actually hear and see the character’s name more often.

Yet with this voice there also comes hesitation. The third-person is a little limited when it comes to description. You don’t want to go in strenuous detail about description all at once or else your writing is pulling a ball-and-chain. You either explain a little here and some there, or fail to mention something at all. Here is a good example in this short passage:

Edgard sat in front of the table, sipping the red wine.

You may think that sounds right, but what if that was the opening sentence of a chapter or story? First, if your reader has a hard time picturing things, they may see Edgard floating because you failed to note that Edgard sat in a chair. They may see him drinking the wine form his hands because you didn’t tell us of the pretty gold chalice that the wine was in.

Second, we have an infinitesimal amount of description: red and nothing else. This writer may write more as the story develops, but who knows? If they don’t, and the story progresses at this rate, we all may get the sense of floating.

Like the first-person, you may find ‘he’, ‘she’, and even the character’s name appearing way too much. Let’s read a passage and then correct it.

Kenneth threw down his black cloak and rested his eyes on the small gray rock. With a quick jump he was on top of it in seconds. With a deep sigh he sat cross-legged and drained himself of all concentration. His memories fleeted in a thought, and his breathing slowed in a rush. With a blink his eyes closed shut, yet he was still alive.

See any problems? Well, I can’t or is that just me? See if you can slim down all the ‘he’ and ‘his’.

THE DREADFUL AUTHOR INTERRUPTION

As much as these past articles have stressed not to do, then this topic is certainly one you don’t want to come up in your writing at any time. This is a complete, absolute, down-right pest to be avoided.

What is author interruption you might ask? Well, read this passage and see if you can’t tell what it is then:

Pam brushed the dirt from her dress angrily( she was really angry!). With a snort she picked up her bags and strode away from the bus stop. Going into the bus terminal she found it too dark to see anything but lighted cigarettes( it was really dark.) She pressed her bags close to her and took a seat.

Around her were hundreds of old people waiting for their buses to come take them away. Pam huffed, her bus would never come. She had missed it by at least an hour( but it was really two.).

See what I mean? All that writing in parentheses did nothing but made our reader stop, read its’ nonsense, and try and continue with the story until it appears yet again, and gain. Simply overlook those parentheses and you find out that this story isn’t so bad. If the fact that you the writer need to add you own feelings to the story at such an odd way, then the story isn’t doing what it’s supposed to do. A story should write itself, and the reader should be able to figure it out clearly. Keep this in mind never, ever, ever, ever, ever, deal with author interruption. It is just plan bad and makes your writing seem amateurish.

I guess this article should leave you with this in mind:

Author interruption causes only corruption

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