Get the FAQs about writing style

Do you need help finding your writing style? It takes time to find an influential voice that resonates with an audience. It also takes practice and listening to a lot of feedback. Then, after a while, your voice will come through.

Your writing style reflects who you are. It makes your writing unique and helps you connect with readers. Here are answers to your questions about writing style. Use these tips to develop a style that works for you and delivers your message effectively.

What is a writer’s style?

A writing style is the way you combine words, sentences, and paragraphs. It’s how you express ideas and emotions. The more clearly and creatively you express your words, the more receptive your audience will be to your writing.

Why develop a writing style?

Style is more than a wordy ornament added to ordinary plain language. It goes beyond metaphors, alliterations, and punny phrases. And it isn’t an incidental element. Style is a fundamental part of all forms of communication.

A creative writing style is essential in fiction stories. It’s equally important in technical and business writing.

Selecting a subject, forming a purpose, and choosing the type of document suited to your needs is an essential start to producing quality content.

You must express your thoughts effectively to attract an audience and hold their attention. This expression is where your writing style comes into play.

How do you describe an author’s writing style?

Style is how you transfer what is in your mind to the minds of your readers. It’s how you convey your ideas, thoughts, and emotions. The best style helps your audience quickly, accurately, and completely relate to your thoughts and feelings.

Your writing style isn’t set in stone. It’s a fluid concept that you’ll adapt to each writing project. As you progress through your career, you’ll find creative ways to adapt your style to your readers and the subject.

You’d write an annual report for a corporation in a different style than a collection letter to a client who hasn’t paid their bill in six months. The style I’m using for my Gothic Horror novel differs from the style I use when writing in-house training classes for corporate clients.

The style you use in your business and technical communications is as important as its subject, purpose, and structure.

Your readers’ comprehension and engagement with your writing are the only measures of your content’s effectiveness and value. Your writing style must reflect your readers’ needs, abilities, and experiences.

What are the elements of a good writing style?

The elements of writing style include how a writer uses words, figures of speech, sentence structure, and paragraph arrangement. Your choice of elements and how you combine them determine your style.

A good writing style uses words that have meaning

Avoid confusion and misunderstandings by using words that have meaning. When choosing the words for your writing project, consider these three points:

• Only use words familiar to the average person.
• Concrete terms make a better impression than general words.
• Words that carry associated ideas and feelings are more effective than words that lack intellect and emotion.

Many readers don’t refer to a dictionary for words they don’t know. Still, don’t confine your writing to ordinary, everyday words. Most readers know the meaning of more words than they use in casual conversation.

You may need to introduce unfamiliar terms to your audience when writing about scientific, medical, business, or technical topics. When unsure whether your audience will understand a term, explain the term or substitute a word they will comprehend. Technical terms are easily defined the first time the words appear in the document.

A good writing style creates associations with figures of speech

Figures of speech are excellent aids to clearness and conciseness and add to the vividness of an article. These phrases help readers grasp ideas quickly and stimulate their imagination and emotions.

Use a figure of speech to show readers the relation between a new idea and a familiar one. An unfamiliar object, for example, is likened to a familiar one either directly, as in the simile, or by implication, as in the metaphor.

When the object brought into relation with the new idea is familiar and concrete, the desired effect is to simplify the subject being explained and make it easier to comprehend.

A figure of speech explains a concept concisely and helps a reader understand the idea with minimal mental effort. Saying a person looks “like Lincoln” is a simple and concise way of creating a mental picture. Describing a smoothly running motor as “purring” makes the reader hear the sound.

You’ll use fewer words, and the wise use of figures of speech gives more precise and vivid impressions.

As the familiar, concrete objects introduced in figures frequently have associated emotions, figurative expressions often make an emotional appeal. Again, to say that a person looks “like Lincoln” creates a mental picture and awakens the feelings generally associated with Lincoln. The result is that readers feel the same way toward the person as they feel toward Lincoln.

A good writing style scripts sentences in staggering sizes

For rapid reading, a good sentence should have an evident grammatical structure. The reader should be able to glance at the text and see the relation of its parts. Readers have difficulty understanding involved sentences that require a second look before comprehending their meaning.

The sentences in a paragraph should be of different lengths to avoid monotony. Readers have an easier time grasping short and medium-length sentences than long ones. Here are some guidelines:

• A short sentence contains 15 words or less. The short sentence is easy to comprehend and is more emphatic than a longer one. Use a short sentence in combination with medium and long sentences to highlight its importance. It makes an emphatic beginning and a strong conclusion for a paragraph. It’s a good call to action as the last sentence of an article. It’s also a convenient transition sentence because it contrasts with longer statements.
• A medium sentence is between 15 and 30 words. It’s the perfect size for expressing the average thought. When used continuously, it has a monotonous rhythm that becomes tiresome.
• A long sentence contains 30 words or more. Use a long sentence to group details that are closely connected. In contrast with the rapid, emphatic short sentence, it moves slowly and deliberately. Use it to express dignified and impressive thoughts.

For rapid reading, sentence structure, rather than length, is the chief consideration. Absolute clearness is of paramount importance.

In hurried reading, the eye catches the first group of words at the beginning of a sentence. These words make more of an impression on the reader’s mind than those in the middle or at the end of the sentence.

In all writing, the beginning has the most emphasis. Place the most significant idea at the beginning. This arrangement doesn’t mean that the sentence needs to trail off loosely in a series of phrases and clauses. Maintain a firm structure even though the strongest emphasis is at the beginning.

You can increase the effectiveness of your sentences while revising the content. Rearrange the parts and move the essential ideas close to the beginning.

A good writing style uses concise paragraphs

As you write, you pour out your thoughts the same way they are arranged in your mind. How you build paragraphs determines how well your audience can read and understand the content.

To make sure your readers stay engaged with your content, organize your thoughts into a logical order. Also, break each thought into short paragraphs that are easy to understand.

The beginning of the paragraph, like the beginning of the sentence, is the part that catches the eye. Significant ideas belong at the beginning. Your audience will keep reading when you hold their attention with the first group of words.

When the beginning doesn’t attract a reader, they go to the next paragraph. They may not even read the content. Instead, they may only glance at enough words to “get the drift of it.” An emphatic, direct, and informative beginning for a paragraph makes it more likely that the reader will pay attention to its contents.

A small group of thoughts is easier to grasp than a large one. Paragraphs in journalistic, business, and blog writing are usually shorter than those of ordinary English prose. Plus, many people read web content on their phones.

The narrow smartphone screen has room for five to eight words in a line. A paragraph of 250 words, the average length of the literary paragraph, fills between 40 and 50 lines. Smartphone screens display between 25 and 30 lines of text.

A standard letter-size document with a one-inch margin has room for about 15 words on a line. So, a 250-word paragraph fills about 16 lines on the page.

These long paragraphs seem heavy and uninviting. Casual readers may be unable to comprehend and combine the various thoughts in a large group of sentences.

Strive for paragraphs that are 100 words or less. Casual readers can easily read and understand paragraphs containing four or five sentences.

How can I develop my writing style?

When you write the first draft of your project, let your words flow. Don’t hold back. Express yourself and write as if you were explaining the topic to a trusted confidant. And don’t be afraid to write the way you talk.

Before you let your words run wild, create an outline to guide your thoughts. Stick to this plan. With a solid and detailed outline, you’ll avoid writer’s block. You can also focus on explaining yourself clearly with words your audience will understand.

Ignore those spelling and grammar mistakes that happen as your fingers fly across the keyboard. You can fix those mistakes later. Instead, concentrate on turning words into pixels and covering your topic adequately.

The editing process can begin after explaining your topic and covering all the points in your outline. This process can be complex and confidence-busting. The great works of writing endured this rigorous task, and the best writers have produced mediocre first drafts.

Think of your first draft as a framework for polishing your style and making your words shine.

All first drafts can be improved by careful revision. In going over your work, word by word and sentence by sentence, you’ll find many opportunities to increase the effectiveness of the structure and the style of your written content. You can make these edits without destroying the ease and naturalness of your expression.

To improve the diction of your articles, eliminate these elements from your writing:

• Superfluous words
• Trite phrases
• General, colorless words
• Terms unfamiliar to the reader (explain these terms when used)
• Words with a connotation that is inappropriate to the context
• Hackneyed and mixed metaphors

As you edit your work, look for ways to strengthen the effectiveness of the content. Find places to add specific, picture-making, imitative, and meaningful words. Also, make sure your writing uses figures of speech that clarify your ideas and stimulate the reader’s imagination.

Sentences may frequently be improved by:

• Making the grammatical structure more evident.
• Breaking up long, loose sentences into shorter ones.
• Using short sentences for emphasis.
• Varying the sentence length.
• Transferring important ideas to the beginning of the sentence.

Test every paragraph to determine whether it is a unified group of thoughts, contains no more than 100 words, and places the essential ideas at the beginning.

Finally, eliminate all grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization errors while revising your work. Every minute spent improving an article increases its chances of being accepted.

Remember your audience while developing your style

While writing your content, consider your audience and their needs. Different groups require different information. Organize the text logically and put the most important information first. Short sentences are preferred over long and complicated ones that can be confusing.

The language used should be simple and familiar. Use everyday words instead of acronyms, jargon, and legal language. Additionally, use the verb form of the word instead of the noun form. This increases clarity and makes the text easier to understand. Lastly, to increase clarity, use active voice, in which the subject does the action of the verb. But don’t change the meaning of the text, add new information, or remove important information from the original text.