[ General ]

No I’m not going to discuss the rules of the road when it comes to grammar. I will not talk about “I before E except after C and in receive.” Nor will I talk about subject-verb agreement, nor about dangling particles. I want to talk more about style.

There are three broad classes of style. The first is the long winded one. They tend to find the longest, curviest, and often the most boring route from A to F. These writers tend to find ways of avoiding getting to F by even going through P, Q, and Z before returning to B. This isn’t a bad thing, but if over used it tends to leave readers frustrated at the author’s inability to stay on task and tell the story.

The next is the writer that can bring a reader from the point A to point F in such a way where they can bypass almost every point in-between without causing them to feel as if they were jipped out of a story. In fact, the solution is so elegant that as a reader is left wondering how they couldn’t have seen the solution in the first place.

Lastly, we have those that must take each step on the plot road from A to F. The reader knows, to a degree, what will happen, but that doesn’t really bother most readers. A good narration will keep the reader interested even if they know where the author is guiding them. Note, I said “guide” not “lead” since most readers dislike having a nose ring installed and dragged behind the main character.

Granted those are the broad categories in writing style. From here, we must introduce other aspects that add spice to the above basic patterns. They can include such things a rhyming prose, the over use of multi-syllabic words, constant use of metaphors, talking more than showing, and so on.

Also, there are times when people write with alternative grammar rules. However, this tends to frustrate not only editors but readers as well, and unless you are a published author it may be best to conform to the general rules of the road.

BTW not only happy Halloween, but happy NaNoWriMo eve.