Writing Forum

Thanks for the compliment, LSO. And thanks too for the offer. I will most assuredly someday take you up on it, hopefully sooner than later.

I would say my writing style, at this point, is an unrefined extension of my own personality. While it might be somewhat distinct and recognizable in that regard, it is yet rough and unpolished, and still to my ears unready to be used as a tool for storytelling.

I write more creative nonfiction than fiction at this point. My daytime job, the one that pays the rent and keeps the lights turned on, is for a law firm. I write most of the material we produce in our office. Also, I write a lot of notes and reports regarding cases, as well as interviews with clients, witnesses, police officers, social workers, etc.

There are things about my writer's voice that I like and hope to cultivate further---I believe my prose is conversational and easy to read, even if sometimes weighted down with heavy, awkward, seven-syllable words.

And yet too, there are aspects of my personal style---writing habits, let's say---that I wish to change, that I wish to fix, even, if you will.

I believe, regardless the style of writing one employs and the voice one is striving to manifest on the page, an honest, critical assessment of "self" is always helpful. I believe I can often effectively use comedy, but I also recognize my own unusual perspective and odd sense of humor misses many readers. I sometimes use techniques of rhetoric that can get lost in translation when transposed to the written word---sarcasm, for example, is often tricky to convey without the benefit of audibly pitching one's voice in the right manner, and therefore is often handled clumsily by unpolished writers such as myself. And that's just one example.

As I wrote earlier, however, I am in no great hurry to be "finished." I am not Stephen King nor was meant to be. I do not seek to be prolific, to put out a novel every six months or sooner. I aspire to be more like JRR Tolkien, to write just a few great stories as I grow old, after having traced the trek of the sun from the farthest points East to the most distant points West, after having measured out my life with coffee spoons and having then decided what is tasty to the palate. Yeah, I would be more than happy to pen just one fine story that leaves an indelible mark on literature, just like old grandfather Tolkien. And honestly, that to me is a higher bar to set for myself than wishing to pen a thousand bestsellers.

As always, thanks for the reply.