"Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly -- they'll go through anything. You read and you're pierced." --Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Not a lot of people enjoy English classes. The excessive writing, going on and on about the same things, not to mention the endless boring readings. I loved it! Seriously, not even kidding. I would take five classes over any math or science class. Plus, I mark bullshitting on my resume of talents. I will say this though, I will never understand why some teachers/professors need us to write five to ten pages on a subject that could be explained in two. It did help me hone that bullshitting talent, however.
Recently it has come to my attention that I had a specific style to my writing. I know we each have a way that we write, but I never gave it much thought. I just wrote what I felt. Put pen to paper and let the words flow. I was reading one of my blog posts out loud. I do that to help edit to make sure if it flows and makes sense. My son came into the room and asked me if I was done reading my poem. Giving him a puzzled look, I just responded that it was just a blog post I was editing. It got me thinking though. Was my son just not understanding the finer points to writing and being a typical teenager? Or was my writing similar to the poems I wrote over the years.
I dug out some of my previous poems and read them in tandem with my post. I could see some similarities, but I knew one was a poem and the other just some conversational words. I do like using descriptive words. I like giving the audience a picture of what I am talking about. When I read it out loud it just sounds better to the ear. Now I know that whoever is reading my blogs, are probably not reading it like I do. I would hope that at least you can get a picture in your mind of what I am talking about due to the language that I use. My poems have a lot of symbolism. Some are like a puzzle you need to figure out and others are just visceral feelings that I was projecting onto the page. My blog posts are not that deep.
What am I driving at then? In the case of your writing, you will develop a style. Be it known to you or not. We can learn and grow within our grammar, vocabulary, and form, but the style is what we gain over the time of our writing career. Our style is what separates us from the rest. For me, I write in a sort of poetic verse, with descriptive words and flourishes that may not necessarily be needed. I honestly don’t care because that is me. I am putting myself down on that paper and I deserve some flourishes. Whatever you end up writing and when you put pen to paper, that is a part of you. Embrace it, enjoy it, and keep it going. That is what I intend to do.
