My individual writing style is something I have been developing throughout my entire writing career. I value writing constantly within my style as extremely important.
I write books that paint mental pictures, while using the least possible amount of words. After someone reads one of my books, I love to hear that the book would make a great movie.
People imagine my books as a movie because my words paint a mental picture. A person literally sees my words come to life as a mental image, and that ability is a trait I constantly strive to perfect.
I never copy another author, or rewrite already published words. I live by the words, never settle, which I inlay into my writing. I believe every paragraph that I first write has the ability to be better. I repeatedly add, delete, and change words until I manipulate and create a perfect paragraph.
My books always tie into reality. I never planned to write within reality, that’s just simply how I write.
I write in a style called linear narrative. Linear writing means I start a story at the beginning with a central theme and every part of the story contributes to the main theme. I insert the least amount of digression or repetition. The details of a linear story will form a straight line. The author adds supporting information and extra details to the story as a way to distract the reader from traveling in a straight line.
The opposite of linear narrative is nonlinear. A nonlinear storyline randomly jumps around, or multiple characters tell their version of the same story.
Even though my writing style is clearly linear, I still jump around to different times within a storyline as a way to add background information and extra supporting details. I call jumping around and adding details a tangent, most authors call it digression. My tangents (or digressions) are often short, but overall the story I’m writing decides the length of each tangent. My overall goal is to write an entertaining story, and all great stories require details, not just the main facts.
I never publish a book I wrote if the characters are not very strong. My characters must be relatable and memorable. How I develop my characters with the traits I require is something I don’t know how to explain. I read nonstop and I always read authors I’ve never read. I’m certain I adapted quality character development through the books I’ve read. I read a lot of Anne Rice, Dean Koontz, and Stephen King, all of which are the top authors at superior character development.
When I write a story, I try to tell the story through character dialogue (the words in quotation). I add supporting details through the narrator (the words not in quotation). While I’m writing, I imagine how the character would speak, and I write exactly how I imagine the character speaking. I’m constantly dedicated to writing exactly how I imagine the character speaks - not how I speak. I only ever write how I speak if I’m writing nonfiction, or if I’m writing as the narrator.
The greatest feeling happens when I’m writing a character and I love the charter, or hate the character. Sometimes I hate how someone acts or speaks, not because I wrote poorly, but because I wrote so realistic that I disliked the characteristics of the character. To me, one of the hardest tasks involved with writing is remaining unbiased while writing the traits of a character I hate.
