ABP#02: [A Style for Every Day]

I don't quite remember where I heard it first, but there's that saying that there's always a bit of you in your writing. And no, I'm not that forgetful, I meant where I heard that before the first assigned blog post, because that definitely was not the first time I heard that >_>

But really, I think every work always have some traits of the author that can be seen, their style, so-to-speak. Style is what separates book A from book B, why we have twenty-thousand different variations of the same fantasy/sci-fi/thriller/save-the-world stories and why they all seem different. And style really does make it to the reader. Junot Diaz, for example, has pretty coarse, unfiltered descriptions and dialogue that probably reflects his own life. Butler has plenty of sensory descriptions, and puts a bit more focus on smell (perhaps he has a good sense of smell in real life? I wouldn't know). The point is, the style is obvious and is a huge part of how the story is conveyed to the reader and how said reader might react. Personally, I don't like Diaz's style and therefore don't enjoy his works so much, for example.

As for myself, my own style? Adjectives are my best friends. Sorry periodic table. My writing gets pretty abstract sometimes simply due to the fact that I want to cram as much detail, as many adjectives as I can into a sentence. Colors, in particular, are fun to play with, and black/white and blue/red are my favorite to describe in stories. I like green, but green just doesn't get any of the love blue and red do (unless someone can give me a green equivalent of crimson/scarlet/azure, I often have to stick with nature-related terms like lush or verdant >_>). Ditto with elements - all the cool words describe fire or wind, some water, but never earth. I like contradictions, I like contrast, I like simplicity in complexity. Stereotypes aren't fun to write about, because they have been done to the point that they're now stereotypes. But a new take on something mundane, from a different perspective perhaps? Newer and fresher. After all, what's the fun in writing something that has already been done ten thousands times before you? Why write about that, when you can write about, oh I don't know, the story of a penguin stranded on Venus who manages to build an intergalactic space shuttle from dirt while hiding from the sun so he can travel the cosmos to find the purpose of his flippers because god knows there's none on Venus (that is totally going to be my story now >_>). Or a story about a man with five arms and sixteen toes who struggles to find love and compassion from his family that is terrified of him? Or a story about two mischievous kids burning ants with a magnifying glass... from the ant's perspective. People who say that everything's already been written before... I'm positive it hasn't.

But anyways, that's probably why I delve into abstract - because I want details, visualizations, and the capturing of the moment and thought. Adjectives. I like reading second-person, because it acknowledges the reader, and helps the reader attune more to the moment than third-person could. Perspectives.

Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to write about five-armed men with sixteen toes. Who burn ants with magnifying glasses.