For All The Writers Out There........

Boundless has posted several interesting articles on writing this past week. I haven't had time to read them all thoroughly yet, but I plan to. I have skimmed over all of them and they seem to have lots of great tips and information. One is about getting past writer's block. I definitely need to read that one a second time. :)

I think one of the best ways to improve your writing is to read lots of books. All kinds of books from different eras, styles, and genres. When you learn what you like you like in other people's writing, it will be easier to see where your own can improve! I'm pretty picky about writing. I have strong opinions about what I like and what I dislike. It's not always easy for me to tell you exactly what it is that I dislike about a particular style of writing or book, but I know if I don't like it. I love Jane Austen's writing style. Her sarcastic descriptions make me laugh out loud, her characters seem like real people, and her conversation makes you feel like you are there. I love Dickens' style. He mixes in so many complicated characters and twists in his stories that I am never bored. On the other hand, I have rarely read a "classic" book from the twentieth century and enjoyed it. The writing style changed. The morality went downhill. Last year, I decided to experiment with reading classic/recommended books written later than 1890, just because all the other books I had been reading were the same 19th century style. I started two or three and turned them back into the library without finishing them. Some I finished, but didn't enjoy. Nearly every book was written in a style that I can only describe as a tangled mess of run-on sentences comprised of too many adjectives. I know some authors are loudly applauded for that kind of writing style. I guess I'm not intelligent enough to make any sense of it.


So, what is my own writing style? I love to write. I've written stories since I first learned to spell. My project now is a novel of epic proportions. Yes, I'm joking because I've been working on it for so long. It can also be taken literally because I have about fifteen five-subject notebooks stacked up in a chest in my room filled with rewrites of that same story. One thing I really hope I can achieve in my life is finishing that novel. It won't be easy. I want it to be a novel about real life and real people. Good times and hard times. Joy and sorrow. That's hard to describe. My biggest struggles are conversation and over-description. It's hard to make a conversation in print and no matter how many times I think it through, it never sounds the same when it's written. To make up for that lack, I always want to describe everything -- the dresses, the trees, the flowers, the food -- and so distract from the weak place in my story, the lack of conversation. Sometimes I can almost see the finish line for this novel. Other times I feel like starting all over. Hopefully, one day, I will be able to write "The End" on the last page with satisfaction.