Trying to write in anew style

Linsi! Don't do it! We don't need anymore 'nice' poems about flowers and rubbish - write what your mind is telling you to write; that must be your true self. You can only find your true voice by letting it flow ... not until you let all that dark stuff come out, can you then move on to other things. I'm a dark writer too. There needs to be room for the dark and the light; and besides, too much nice stuff gets borning and doesn't always address the stuff that really needs addressing, you know, our darker feelings that have just as much right to valid expression as any other. Hope I haven't depressed you! go for it... Spin

Hi I don't think I can help, but I am also a bit of a dark writer, maybe try to write about the benefit of seeing the dark side of life. Hiddendragon

Linsi, I seems to me you are talking about content rather than style. At first, I thought you were going to ask how to change from say narrative prose to sonnets or some such thing.:)) That might actually be easier. When I want to change style, I just read a lot of things written in a certain style and I find that I pick it up. Content is a different issue. Hmmmm. Well, there might be a simple solution. If you begin something that has a happy mood, just stop when it turns dark. I know that sounds fantastically simplistic, but it might work. Think of it this way: there are many sides to every story. You start off with the positive side and just when things would otherwise go wrong, stop. Actually, I've done that any number of times. Many of the happy sounding things I've written had a dark side, and if I had continued on witht he rest of the story, it could have turned very ugly. However, the piece worked as is, stopping before the s*** hit the fan, so it looks like a happy piece. Maybe I'm full of it. Anyway, give that a try and tell us what happens.:)

Linsi Write a poem about a lovely, happy thing. Just do it! Write a poem in your normal style. Compare. Share Evaluate the reactions. then do what you feel. e-griff

Thanks all. I am at this moment trying to write something. I hope it works! Thanks for the comments.

I far as I can tell we write what we write. When you write do you 'zone' out at all - get into the flow, words come out and you only realise what you have written when you read it back to edit or whatever. That happens to me and no matter how I start out writing it always comes out with some observation or comment or feeling or thought on how cynical I am about society, life, whatever. I write what I write. Writing needs conflict - if you write something happy maybe there is no conflict there, no expression. I could write something happy but I wouldn't be pleased with it because then it would just be a description of a field with a shining sun but have no depth. Accept what you write and don't think about it too much, just write.

Yeah linsi I'am in the same boat man. Haven't been able to write anything half-decent for weeks. Am going through the worst patch of writers block I've ever known. The thing I wanted to get better at was my sense of place. So I sat there and worked at it, and jus couldn't do it man. I went out over the weekend determined not to think any more about it and went out to a rave, had a really good time. Came home, recovered, and found the tone of my writing was a lot more deeper than it ussually is. I found I had this great love for the city of Birmingham, for the great diversity of it's art and culture. I was feeling great positivity about the future, how people from all races, classes and walks of life can live together side by side in the same city. Eat and drink together - work together - party together. The whole thing inspired me to sit down and write about it. And I think I made my first steps towards creating a sense of place, starting with the place I'am most familiar with. I have set myself a creative writing exercise now - to go and explore the heights and depths of the city, to try and get the feel of each district, of different people and buildings, with my notepad and pencil. Doing this - slowly but surely I can feel myself breaking away from my old style and into a deeper more mature style. I want to get to a stage with my writing where the reader feels like they've actually been to these places themselves, I want to stimulate the readers five senses. I think if you want to create a happier vibe in your writing then maybe you need to go out and experience some happiness, explore the heights and depths of that emotion. Sit down and set yourself a creative writing exercise asking yourself what makes you happy? Number it from one to ten. Then take each number and take it deeper, fully explore it. If it goes a bit dark that's ok, write about what would make it go light again. It doesn't have to be a masterpiece, it's a creative writing exercise, so you can go wherever you want to go. You need to practise your new style, like you would practise a musical instrument, it's hard at first, but you get better at it in time, till it becomes like second nature. Don't be too hard on yourself either, be positive, persevere. Start writing the way you want to write, acting as if you already know how to do your new style. It's not easy, but then anything worth knowing takes a certain amount of time and study. What are your fondest memories? What sort of things make you smile? What is it about a sunrise that makes you feel a kind of natural high? What is it about a warm face that makes you feel secure? Why does laughter and dancing feel so good? What is it about empathy that deepens your character? Ask yourself these kinds of questions, explore the positive emotions. Do it as a creative writing exercise, and when your done, set yourself some more creative writing exercises, till you feel your style changing. That's the kind of tasks I'am setting myself at the moment, and it seems to be helping me a lot. Good luck dude.

Funky, I went to Nottingham at the weekend for my brothers 21st. went to a club and a great time was had by all. One of the highlights of the evening was coming back home on the coach with 30 other people who were in high spirits! That night is something I wish I could put into words. The music, the dancing, the rambling conversations... It was pure bliss, but I doubt if I could ever do that experience any justice the way my writing is at the moment. How to create that pure essence? I'm not talking loads of twats pissed up either.

Style is a natural extension of personality and is the accident of what we have read and how we have absorbed it. Certainly you can consciously change things about your style, for example, by studying books on usage and conventional grammar, but the essence of how you write, your voice, is as personal and idiosyncratic as the sounds that come out of your mouth when you talk. I think the key to developing your style is to write, write, and write, and eventually you will find out what it is that you do. An analogy with the singing voice is not entirely inappropriate here. One can sing all the scales he wants, but a tenor is not going to sound like a baritone, and every singer has a unique sound. I know this sounds cheesy, but it's true! But sing your scales, read exhaustively, write every day, ponder every word you put down and even those you don't, and you will become very good at what it is you do, and your unique voice will speak, and everyone will recognize it!

Dear Linsi, Maybe it's that writing is often a form of therapy for us ..it helps deal with the crappy stuff whether we know it or not. I know what you mean though, I've tried writing poems for/about my son and they either melt into mush or start to get bleak. However ..fear not ..I have one tip that sometimes works for me and that's to focus on the small detail and not try to tackle the big stuff. Try writing about the shape of someones lip or the smell of a lime not the big stuff like love or pleasure. Hope helps.

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