A Difference in Writing Style – What I Read Changes What I Write
One of the big fears of the average author is their next book will never be as good as their previous one. And that’s something I suffer with even whilst writing. Aside from that, though, my biggest fear is that my style will change.
Irrational? Yes.
My style will always change because that’s called personal growth. It feels odd to look back on work I produced years ago. Back then it was nothing short of amateur, and that’s taking into account the fact I didn’t use editors. Thankfully, none of this work ever saw the bright lights of the general public.
A Single Book
All it takes is a single book to change the way I write. I can see it because my thought process is different. It’s like I’m absorbing the skill and nuances of whatever author I’m reading at the time.
It reminds me of a console game named Mortal Kombat Deception. Now this game is well over ten years old now. I played it for hours on the old Playstation 2. In the game you follow the life of a young martial artist named Shujinko. Every time he trains with a fighter he absorbs all their skills and he can become them. He adopts their moves as naturally as a child learning to crawl along the ground.
And that’s how I feel. Every time I read a book I can feel myself changing. 1964 (Made in Yorkshire Book 1) is a million times different to 1984 (Made in Yorkshire Book 7), for example.
A Diet of Novels
I once had this crazy idea of only reading specific books to stop this from happening. This was the case as recently as late 2013, and for a time I found it worked. The problem is I felt as if my style was stagnating because of it. I was purposely avoiding different authors in case it ruined things.
It wasn’t until later I began to accept this was a good thing and the style change was here to stay.
I suppose it really depends on what you want from me. Some people gravitate towards a writer’s style. If that’s the case, I’m sorry. But I think most people care about the story and the characters more. Most of you aren’t particularly bothered if they witness a change in me over time, and I believe that’s the case with most authors.
So What am I Reading Now?
The latest book to alter my ways is a book called Papillon by Henri Charrière. The book charts the author’s true story of his desire to escape from the penal colony of French Guiana in the early 20th century.
His style is brutal and violent. It gets right to the point and doesn’t dance around any of the key issues. And that’s impacted my way of doing things. I’m relying less on flowery language and more on shoving the plot forward.
I just hope it leads to progression, rather than regression.
Until next time…
James Farner
Irrational? Yes.
My style will always change because that’s called personal growth. It feels odd to look back on work I produced years ago. Back then it was nothing short of amateur, and that’s taking into account the fact I didn’t use editors. Thankfully, none of this work ever saw the bright lights of the general public.
A Single Book
All it takes is a single book to change the way I write. I can see it because my thought process is different. It’s like I’m absorbing the skill and nuances of whatever author I’m reading at the time.
It reminds me of a console game named Mortal Kombat Deception. Now this game is well over ten years old now. I played it for hours on the old Playstation 2. In the game you follow the life of a young martial artist named Shujinko. Every time he trains with a fighter he absorbs all their skills and he can become them. He adopts their moves as naturally as a child learning to crawl along the ground.
And that’s how I feel. Every time I read a book I can feel myself changing. 1964 (Made in Yorkshire Book 1) is a million times different to 1984 (Made in Yorkshire Book 7), for example.
A Diet of Novels
I once had this crazy idea of only reading specific books to stop this from happening. This was the case as recently as late 2013, and for a time I found it worked. The problem is I felt as if my style was stagnating because of it. I was purposely avoiding different authors in case it ruined things.
It wasn’t until later I began to accept this was a good thing and the style change was here to stay.
I suppose it really depends on what you want from me. Some people gravitate towards a writer’s style. If that’s the case, I’m sorry. But I think most people care about the story and the characters more. Most of you aren’t particularly bothered if they witness a change in me over time, and I believe that’s the case with most authors.
So What am I Reading Now?
The latest book to alter my ways is a book called Papillon by Henri Charrière. The book charts the author’s true story of his desire to escape from the penal colony of French Guiana in the early 20th century.
His style is brutal and violent. It gets right to the point and doesn’t dance around any of the key issues. And that’s impacted my way of doing things. I’m relying less on flowery language and more on shoving the plot forward.
I just hope it leads to progression, rather than regression.
Until next time…
James Farner
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