Starting a new series about general writing tips and notes and ideas I come across or make up, based on my connection with various things and jazz. Doing so in my little corner of webspace that I’ve carved out. Hopefully this helps someone else, but ultimately I’m just publishing notes for myself and making it public to help inspire future people or whatever.
As you may notice, some times I have a certain tone or demeanor in my writing, as if I’m having a sort of conversation with you. That’s basically how I think or talk, and the words flow like that. So you get a feel for my style or personality, or atleast a slice of it.
As such, I want to point out that writing has a sort of style to it, everyone’s personality leaks out into the pen and as they write, their word choice, pacing, grammar and cadence can be seen to help illustrate ideas.
Personality in writing
More so, the personality of the writer in the style of writing.
If I were to write something dry, like a non-fiction non-bias historical piece, I’d account for all sorts of possibilities and tell you what the major theories are. Let the reader decide and pull the threads to cross reference the text books to find their knowledge while not over selling a propaganda yellow journalist piece.
(X being placeholders for information, additionally you’d have to cite sources or images to help add primary accounts).
(Something objective with Time Stamp) The US President and the Ukrainian President were arguing live on television on XX date XXXX year.
(Conjecture and speculation of opinions) It showed to the world the messy decorum of back room locker talk that wasn’t showcased in the usual public, especially not on television. It was raw. Proponents of the debate said XXX. While others viewed it as XXXX. Some world leaders said XXX. The opinion on social media was XXX.
(Leading into the next event, objective and Time Stamp) This resulted in the ceasefire deal between Ukraine and Russia ending in XXX on XX Date.
If I was to write a book for children, I’d let images and pictures do more of the talking with vibrant colors, while repeating repetitive small phrases while introducing new ones slowly. Easy words, few letters, magic. Of course this depends on the age group as well.
A Cat lived in a house. His name was Tom. He chased a mouse. His name was Jerry.
If I were to write horror or mystery or suspense, I would carve a pacing of anticipation where you linger. on. the. next. words. (I’m not too good at horror, this is my attempt to paint a crude picture).
Meandering through the dark corridors that were gripped by the shadowy tendrils of darkness as the flame lit oil lantern flickers and fades swaying precariously betwixt clammy fingers. Jeff holding his only lifeline out in front of him inside the darkness of the windowless wooden house. If he were to drop his light, he would catch the house aflame, or worse, lose all light and be stuck, locked in a perpetual darkness of his wooden tomb.
If I were to write informational financial comedy in a satirical political cartoonist style, I’d make a few jokes, take things to the extreme, cross reference what my intended target audience would know with pop culture and other historical events, and make memes and jokes while delivering punchlines that are also informational in the cathartic release. Where the comedy is the enlightenment.
It’s the roaring soaring 20’s, except add 100 years and our financials are still just as bad amok. But wait, the egg prices are expensive, and a po’ boy’s sandwich costs more than two hours of honest work.
Point is,
Your personality changes with your writing style.
You wouldn’t tell a ghost story in that squeaky voice meant for kids or puppies. Why should your writing reflect that same incongruence?
It’s a sort of reflection or mirror dance. -And you might not like a monotone voice telling a story. So if you don’t like a monotone voice, why should your writing reflect that? Why only stick to one personality if you’re writing something long and lifelike.
If your only emotion is anger throughout your life, can you write about Love or horror? Can you channel fear or terror? You gotta widen your emotions with experiences to widen the depth of your personality to widen the meaning you can convey. Don’t be a single speed racer.
To note, It’s okay to write one personality or emotion if it’s a one-shot, like a horror short story, but for longer works, it might get too dry or monotone in personality. There’s a big difference between a five thousand page horror and five paragraphs of horror. Does your target audience want a marathon of monotone? Of one tone or personality?
Consider being multi-dimensional in your personality, specifically in your writing. When you’re crafting a story, you’ll have to find your own groove to be funny when there’s a time for funny, and switch it up to be serious when it’s time to be serious. (Even though, funny and serious aren’t exactly diametrically or axiomatically opposed).
If you don’t want a monotone story, then try stretching your writing style to get serious, to get crass, to get suspenseful, to get poetic, to grasp at straws of raw emotion. To channel a picture, and captivate the reader to turn their own mind into a movie.
In fact, you could draw inspiration from other works. Watching a romance? How does that make you feel? Write it down in a style that suits your work. Note the feelings, the glow, the warmth, the luster, the focus.
Watching horror? Note what the character is going, talk about the cold sweat and clammy skin as the dead silence surrounds you feeling as if you’ve wandered too far from safety.
Point is, there’s a lot of stories that go through a wide range of personalities and writing styles in the act of telling the story. Life is one big story, and even in our lives (I’d argue for the majority) that it’s not the same narration over and over. Especially with the rise of memes and comedy, people tend to tap into different emotions.
It’s not a sprint of one emotion from start to finish.
Two Options;
I’m sure there’s more than two, but here are two none the less;
The trick in the author is to find the authentic writing style to play with this dynamic. If you draw out your real voice or character, in your writing style, you’ll flow naturally. If you are being authentic, then that auth-enticity will guide your auth-orship and build this authority that is congruent and in alignment with your higher self.
OR,
if you’re one of those creative conductors, then you channel the flow and you just gotta get out of your own way. You know, the types that tap into a metaphysical bastion of creativity that flows like a Muse is whispering in your ear to write this next bit. Well, yea, just write that next bit, you can revise it later. (Imagine telling someone to write something down, and they keep interrupting you. It would be rude, right? Don’t do that to the muse silly).
Ideally, you’d learn to use both methods above and pick whichever one you like or enjoy more. -or whichever one suits your purposes.
I recommend or suggest you build your authentic version of yourself, so you add some character and give the Muse some material to work with. Afterall, the Muse works with your vocabulary and experiences. So the more you have and the better or stronger those experiences are, the easier it will be for the muse to meat puppet ya. It’s also a plus, because you get more dynamic range.
In the end
Think of it like a having many different types of brushes or carrying a multi-tool. You’ll have this dynamic range of writing style that can flow and adapt to situations depending on what message needs to be sent. What story needs to be conveyed. What emotions or ambiguous metaphysical wisdoms you want to impart.
Even new writing prompts can challenge your style and grow it. Expanding the lesson plan of your personality like a multi-cultural exchange experience overseas. So try writing something completely out of your field, and pretend you’re the best, before you revise it with extra doses of humility. (It can be easier of a challenge when you have fun with it and not take yourself too seriously).
In essence, you’ll do best to align the style of writing with the personality of emotions if you want to convey and channel the raw emotions of a scene. Thus your writing style will mirror you and your thoughts, and you’ll have a bunch of smaller writing styles or personalities under your big writing style that makes you, well, you.
That’s being the Author, the writer with Author-ity. To have a ‘Big’ personality, and to let your pen flow with your smaller moments and slices of other personalities. (There’s a reason why Ancient Eastern cultures valued Calligraphy to such a degree).
Epilogue
I figure I share some thoughts or insights. I’m not some acclaimed major publisher or some idiot savant maestro polymath. . . Atleast not yet (lol). Just a guy who loves words and jazz. So I best earn my keep if my moniker is gonna be Duke of Words.
I am sporadic in most things I do, that’s just the nature of my beast. Unless you comment on this post to alter my path with a desire or request, I’ll just flow like I do with the words. As always;
Words Mean Things
Words Mean Things 
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