Uncertainty Regarding Style

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Neegh

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So, I guess I'm asking, if you've had these kinds of concerns with your work, what you've learned about finding the right style of a novel of yours, and what you've done about it. .

Um...style or genre? --as in detective, SF, mystery, suspense, horror, romance...
 

davidwestergaard

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I tend to edit as I go, getting each passage as near to perfect as I can before moving on.

Yeesh, if I did this I'd never finish a draft.

For me, style comes out in the rewrites. I never *really* know a character during the first draft. But during editing I know them well enough to feel when the voice is off, whether narration, exposition or dialogue. I tune based on who my POV characters are, and I often have a different writing style depending on the character in question. Some of my characters are quite formal and detail-oriented; others are flighty and tend to focus on action and dialogue. Chapters vary depending on the character and the needs of the story, and these things are typically only clear after the 1st draft is wrapped.
 

greendragon

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So what is your style? My advice is to ignore the question altogether and just write. The longer you attempt to control your style, the longer it will take for your natural style to appear.

That's what I do - I write. I was just curious as to how others might categorize my style (if it even fits into a category). Some will ask 'what's your writing style'? So far I just say 'my own', but that's not very informative.
 

dondomat

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Just make a shortlist of your influences--3-4 names--and answer with that. That's the answer to the "style" question. If you ever make it big, other people will define your actual style.
 
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