Finding your Style

So, it has happened. I’m slowly beginning to find a style. I mean that in both the sense of life and of writing. I was thinking about this yesterday, as I pulled out some of my favorite pieces of writing that I’ve written in a long, long while. I wondered why I enjoyed writing them so much – those specific ones. I figured it out. It was that they came naturally to me. They were written like I…

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Finding your Style

So, it has happened. I’m slowly beginning to find a style. I mean that in both the sense of life and of writing. I was thinking about this yesterday, as I pulled out some of my favorite pieces of writing that I’ve written in a long, long while. I wondered why I enjoyed writing them so much – those specific ones. I figured it out.

It was that they came naturally to me. They were written like I would write them.

For so long I have tried to be someone else. I tried reading books and modeling my work after successful authors. I watched popular people in my years at college and tried to follow in their footsteps. But it wasn’t working out for me? Why? Because it wasn’t me.

I have found that my best work comes in the close-up. In writing, it’s the intimate, one-on-one moments where I can shine. In life, I enjoy myself best with a group of three to four people, even better one-on-one. So in a way, I didn’t have to find a style at all. I’ve just realized what it already is. And that makes it so much better, and people enjoy it that much better.

Moral of the story: don’t apologize for who you are. That’s all you can really be happy as.

Yup. Emotional and sappy blog. I make those occasionally. I’ll avoid them in later days.

I’m Taking Chances

I’m taking chances, and I’d like some advice first. #advice #writing

I really need some feedback on this. I am taking a huge risk with my writing. Maybe it just seems huge to me. I do not recall if I have mentioned this before. It is the dead of night and I just don’t recall as many things. But I will be doing a very… different… thing in the books if I can. The idea is this: reader/author communication. I mean it quite literally. The plan is to have entire…

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I’m Taking Chances

I really need some feedback on this. I am taking a huge risk with my writing. Maybe it just seems huge to me. I do not recall if I have mentioned this before. It is the dead of night and I just don’t recall as many things. But I will be doing a very… different… thing in the books if I can. The idea is this: reader/author communication.

I mean it quite literally. The plan is to have entire paragraphs or pages where I take the reader out of the action a bit (or rather, talk about the action a bit more). I did this first in the first draft at the final plot twist of the book. I figured it might be very confusing to the audience and maybe even seem pointless. Then I pointed out a few things mentioned previously that helped it make sense. Then I left them with a reminder to trust their author and headed back into the plot.

Now it was funny when I did it then… but should I do it again? Should I, in fact, start the story with such a concept? I am considering having the beginning of the book cut to a part midway, then drag the audience out of the story to chat with them about what they just read. Something along the lines of: “Hello, it’s me, your friendly neighborhood author Gabriel Penn. You’re probably wondering, ‘Who is this guy? Why is he here? What the heck is going on? What kind of a book is this?’ That’s pretty close to the point, actually. And to answer your question about the kind of book this is, it’s my kind of book.” Then, perhaps we’ll have another bit of talking, eventually saying that to answer all the questions, we must start at the beginning. Thusly, the book would begin… if I did it this way.

So what are your ideas on this kind of thing? Is it too much of a risk? Should I even keep it as a staple of this series, to break the fourth wall like this occasionally? Or am I just worrying way too much?