About This Series

The more I learn about writing, the more advice I see from writers. Now, much of it is very good and sensible. But there are some things that I have seen writers say, that I am increasingly more and more alarmed at. As I have traveled further on my writing journey, I have found that those bits of advice have at the very least not worked for me, and at the very most, are simply wrong. In this series, I will cover several of the things that writers have said, that I have found are just wrong.

Overview of This Article

In the first article of this series, I will talk about a bit of advice that many writers have heard, many times. And that advice is… Find your style. Many writers will say finding your style is very important, and they give long lists of how you can find your style. What is in the lists vary, so I will not give them all here. The main purpose in this article is not to shoot down every particular point that writers give as a way to help you ‘find your style.’ The main purpose of this article, is to show why finding your style is not a good idea in the first place. But what does ‘finding your style’ even mean? What is wrong with it? If I don’t ‘find my style,’ won’t I sound like everybody else? And if I’m not supposed to find my style… what I am I supposed to do?

Finding Your Style – What Does It Mean?

Typically, when someone talks about finding your style, it is a little… obscure. But for the most part, it means finding the way of writing that is unique to you. The diction, rhythm, feel, and flow of your writing is ‘your style.’ This doesn’t sound too bad, does it? On the face of it, there’s nothing wrong with it. Of course you want to be unique! So… what’s the problem?

Problems With ‘Finding Your Style’

Problem One – Every Story Has Its Own Style

The more I write, the more I realize that this is true. Sticking with ‘your style’ limits you to writing only the stories that ‘your style’ goes best with. Now, there’s not necessarily a problem with writing the same story. Some writers just like the write the same story. But that’s not the problem. The problem comes when ‘find your style’ is given as advice to all writers. Therefore, in the end, all writers are encouraged to write the same story that they wrote the last time. Whether they want to or not.

If You Don’t Want To Follow That Advice, Ignore it!

That’s what one might think, and it’s a valid point. After all, all of life necessitates discernment. Writing, and writing advice, is no different. The problem is, new writers just don’t have great discernment with good and bad writing advice. They have very little experience, and the reason they are looking at writing advice is because they don’t know what to do. They value writing, and are open to everything that writers say. And if it’s said enough times by enough writers… it must be true, right? No! But some writers don’t know that. A new writer will stick to the writing advice they get. Even if it doesn’t feel right. The consequence? After a while, they will either give up writing because ‘they don’t like it’ — though they don’t realize that they dislike it because it’s mistaken advice — or, they will ‘go with the flow,’ getting used to writing the same story, even though they still don’t like it. After all, if they are really a writer, then they will write. It doesn’t matter if they like it. Does it?

Does ‘Liking It’ Matter? And If So, Why?

As a matter of fact, yes, liking it does matter. Writing is not exactly a lucrative business. Writers write first and foremost because they want to. And liking a thing greatly affects your attitude and dedication to it. So when ‘finding your style’ means writing the same thing just because it ‘fits said style,’ and not because you like it, what do your stories turn into? The writer loses all reason to actually say anything different than what they said the last time. They lose the ability to branch out, to experiment. They get stuck in the same rut and go around in circles. I don’t want to be stuck writing pseudo-historical-fiction fantasy for the rest of my life. I love mysteries, and fairytales, and whimsical fantasy, and steampunk and post-apocalyptic and lots and lots of other things. Dark, light, comedy, drama, anthropomorphic or simply human, realistic or just simply not possible. I want to write just about anything and everything. And each anything and everything requires its own unique style. I can’t do that if I also require my own style.

Down The Rabbit Hole!

There might be a big confusion about what I am saying if some of my readers mistake ‘genre’ and ‘style.’ I am not railing against genres, and I am not even railing against styles. But in order to explain what I am trying to say, it is necessary to explain the difference between the words ‘genre’ and ‘style.’ They do connect, but they are not the same. So, what’s the difference?

Genre

In writing, a genre is the type of story you’re writing. Every genre has its own tropes and styles. Example of genre: The most popular genres nowadays are horror and romance.

Style

Style is the type of writing. Styles cover a wide variety of aspects, from the perspective from which the story is told, to the flourishes and metaphors in description. Styles can also have their own tropes. Example of style: The most popular style of writing nowadays seems to be the first person present (I go here, I do this), without any kind of poetry or really any description.

Where They Connect

Each genre generally has its own styles. More specifically, there are only certain styles that fit well with a genre. It’s hard to have a whimsical fairytale with a very straightforward, unpoetic style. (Imagine The Thirteen Clocks without poetry!) So… what’s the problem with genres having their own styles? Nothing. Until you also give every writer ‘their own style.’

And Now, We Return To ‘Find Your Style’

Problem Two – You’re Stuck

So, where does this rabbit hole lead? It leads to our second problem. If every writer must find their own style, and presumably stick with it (why find your style if you’re just going to throw it away?), and every genre also has its own style… then each writer, if they decide to keep writing, has two terrible choices to make. Either, they stick with writing a specific genre or set of genres, or, they settle on a horribly vague, empty style that doesn’t cover anything and can therefore float listlessly, like an odorless, tasteless, undetectable gaseous form, through a slightly wider variety of genres. Which is worse — writing the same story over and over again or turning your stories into the epitome of insipidity — I’m not sure. But neither are good. Unfortunately, many writers choose one or the other, not realizing that there is a third door. But we have to figure out our problems before we get to door three.

Problem Three – But I Don’t Want To Sound Like Everybody Else!

This is not a problem caused specifically by ‘finding your style,’ but it is an excuse against not ‘finding your style,’ and so it must be answered. By this time, some writers might be thinking, ‘You’re saying I shouldn’t find my style? That means I’ll sound like everybody else! I’ll sound like every other writer!’ And no writer wants to sound like another writer! But there is no need to worry! You have your own style. You will always have your own style. Now, this might sound like a direct contradiction with what I just said. But it’s not. It all depends on what you mean by ‘style.’ For most people, the type of writing is ‘the style.’ What I mean by ‘your style’ is something different. It means the unique and tiny little differences that simply come out of you when you write. No matter what type of story or writing you do, your true style will be there. Your true style is not the diction, rhythm, feel, and flow. That varies with each story. Your true style are the quirks and patterns of speech and words that naturally come out of you. You might find that you like to use a particular word, or a phrase, but the main thing about ‘your style’ is that all of your stories have a little something no one can pinpoint, but which are simply like you. And you don’t have to find precisely what makes up your style, to write a great book!

The Third Door

So, what do you do? If you don’t take door one (write the same genre for the rest of your life) and you don’t take door two (listless insipidity), what are you supposed to do? Choose the lesser of two evils? No! I said there was a third door that writers can take. And there is. It’s the door that brought you into ‘The Room of Two Equally Nasty Decisions’ in the first place. It’s the Door of Finding Your Style. It’s best not to pass through it in the first place, but if you have, you can pass back out through it. So… what am I trying to say? Instead of trying to find your style… just Write. Write what you want to write. Write stories. Imagine. Create. Live. Don’t get stuck with following the patterns and the ‘science.’ If you have a certain ‘style’ (rhythm, diction, feel, flow) that you’ve developed over time, but you want to write something else, write that something else! Change your ‘style’ to fit the story. Do not change your story to ‘fit the style.’

Examples of Different Styles By The Same Author

But can it really be done? The same writer writing completely different stories? Absolutely! To avoid any copyright issues, and to enable you to have an easy way of seeing the differences in styles, I decided to use my own works. This is not an advertisement, this is simply to get across the idea.

The first story is after the traditional fairytale style. I don’t prefer the fairytale style of writing. It is not what some might say was ‘my style.’ But that doesn’t mean that I can’t write it.

The second story is… different. To be honest, I am not certain what ‘style’ the second would go into. But it’s certainly not at all like the first. As a matter of fact, the second one was so different from anything I had written, that my mother, when she found the document, asked me if I had written it. The style was not like ‘my style!’

Both of the stories were stories I wanted to write. But neither of these stories were ‘my style.’ One style I didn’t prefer, and the other style wasn’t recognized as mine. But in both cases, the style I wrote was the story’s style. And that’s what mattered.

Conclusion

So, you don’t know ‘your style?’ You don’t know the type of writing that you are ‘destined for?’ That’s fine! Don’t worry about it. Your true style will come out of you as you write. More likely than not, you won’t even see it. But style is not important! Writing is not about the writer. It’s not about who they think they are or ought to be in the eyes of readers or publishers. Writing is about sharing the truth, in as many different ways and as many different genres and styles to reach as many different people as you can, so that some will see, and believe.

Until next time, keep writing, keep learning, and keep growing.