100 ways to improve your writing - Gary Provost 2019
Think about style
Ten ways to develop style
In any discussion of writing, the word style means the way in which an idea is expressed, not the idea itself. Style is form, not content. A reader usually picks up a story because of content but too often puts it down because of style.
There is no subject that cannot be made fascinating by a well-informed and competent writer. And there is no subject that cannot be quickly turned into a literary sleeping pill by an incompetent writer.
You probably would not buy Ray Bradbury’s book Dandelion Wine if while browsing in the bookstore you turned to the version on the left (A). Contrast it with the version on the right (B), Bradbury’s actual opening paragraph. You will see that while both paragraphs contain the same information, the version on the right has style, and that makes all the difference.
A |
B |
There wasn’t any noise at six a.m., and nobody was up yet. The wind was about the way you’d want it, and everything was pretty much okay. If you got up and took a look out the window, you could tell that summer was beginning. |
It was a quiet morning, the town covered over with darkness and at ease in bed. Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch, the breathing of the world was long and warm and slow. You had only to rise, lean from your window, and know that this indeed was the first real time of freedom and living, this was the first morning of summer. |