2. Beyond the Rules: Writing with Style

Although this book isn’t about writing poetry or song lyrics, you should still be sensitive to the way language sounds and know something about the literary devices at your disposal to produce sound effects:

Figurative language uses words to engage the senses, memories, and imagination of the reader through a variety of literary devices, including the following:

Literary devices are techniques that writers have developed to take language beyond its literal meaning and appeal to the senses. Although you’re more likely to encounter literary devices in fictional works and poetry, you can use them in other types of writing to drive home a point, clarify an idea, or punch up your prose. The […]

One way to develop a good writing style is to consciously strive to follow the guidelines described in the previous section. The following are additional ways to develop a mastery of style: Write with a purpose. Is your purpose to entertain, inform, instruct, persuade, or do something else? Writing with a clear purpose will help you […]

Although style varies and what constitutes a good writing style is somewhat subjective, the following guidelines can help you write with style: Keep it simple. Writing doesn’t have to be complicated to be good. It needs to be clear and direct. Unless you have a reason to do otherwise, stick with relatively short sentences and paragraphs. […]

Every type of writing or genre has a certain style. Here are brief descriptions of some common writing genres and their styles: News articles. These are written in an objective, presentational style by journalists. The writer tries to be invisible. As they say, this is a “just the facts” type of writing. Column. This form of journalism […]

Style is the manner in which a writer chooses to present content to an audience in order to achieve the desired effect. While some experts define style as a writer’s distinctive form of expression—or voice—style goes beyond that. A writer can change styles depending on the nature of the publication, the audience, the topic, the goal […]