Writers Should Struggle Against Style

Photo by Margit Studio

I often hear writers say they're struggling to find their voice or their style. So it was unexpected to read this piece from Brad Beauregard about avoiding the adoption of a style. Here's a brief excerpt:

Sometimes writers talk about style as something you can pick up when you buy groceries, something you might stumble upon in the dollar-or-less bin at the thrift store. But style isn't an outfit we don and toss in the laundry at night's end. Style is a body roadmapped with scars and tattoos, the sediment of time spent struggling, failing, and starting over. Style is the house you accidentally build while you're tearing walls down and throwing them in the burn pile. But most important, style is the thing writers struggle against, not toward. I say writers struggle against style, not because they always do, but because I believe they should.

What follows is an unconventional perspective, but a worthwhile one. At the very least, it should reduce your anxiety about solidifying or identifying your style. Click here to read the full piece—or click here to read the rest of Glimmer Train's monthly bulletin with wonderful advice and insight for writers.