Question Your favorite writing style

When you think of certain writing you like to read the most, what comes to mind?
Some people like the sentences short and concise, everyday language. Others enjoy it more when the author uses a lot of imagery and personification, poetic types.
Going into great depths for every scene might be boring for some people, preferring to read them more summarized in the presentation.
And a lot of other aspects.
You may not care about it at all as long as the plot is good enough though.

 

Maybe a little bit of both? But I'm more inclined to short and concise, too much imagery would make me bored. A balance in between 'show' and 'tell' instead of just 'tell'. Well, you know, the 'show, don't tell' writing rule

 

Me like short sentence. Me not like when author spend 100 pages on description of tree branch. Hu-ha

 

Prefer an unadorned writing style with predominantly simple sentences. Moreover, the style should fit the setting and characters, unless it's a parody. Info-dumps are not appreciated, no matter how necessary they might be to the world building; info should be imparted on a need-to-know basis.

 

Diverse usage of words. Not to short not to long

 

I like the first person perspective the most. Length of sentence is not an issue, and as long as I understand, some complex words are fine.
There is just something so immersive about reading a story narrated from first person perspective, could be the MC or someone else narrating. Best example I can think of right now is Percy Jackson series. It allows you to truly experience the story from the eyes of the MC, the thought process and monologue become part of the narrative.

Ps: I hate repetition, like Chinese novels, repeating same phrases, or entire third person dialogues.

 

Short and concise for action and dialogue.

Long and in-depth for world-building.

Either or for intrapersonal stuff depending on the characters’ thoughts and emotions.

 

this type :
I stand here as the blood of the child before me is getting drained , incapable of doing anything to stop such atrocity , I placed my hand at your mouth preventing you from screaming , since your scream would serve no purpose other than making us next , I can feel the wetness at the back of my hands as two streams of tears move down at the back of my hand, you seem to be crying, I want to comfort you yet I can’t, I know that I can’t understand your sadness and sorrow for you have just lost your younger brother , but they will leave none of us alive if they catch us, after all –in their eyes- we are abominations .

I want to tell you to just hold it ,be strong for a little while more ,because no matter what you do now you can’t bring your brother to life , but your brother wouldn’t want to see you dead too .

The knight standing to next to him draw his sword out of his cold body , the blood of your brother began to seep covering the floor the , to the knight it must be a great accomplishment after all another heretic is dead

While our escape is only few inches below us we still can’t open the hidden door since the slightest movement or sound would warn them to our location .

I can see the blood covering the ground and nearly reaching to our feet , I could only have faith in you , I can feel your breath on my hand and hear the steps of the knight standing at the room walking toward us , his heavy steps creeping and creating a dark rhyme symbolizing our doom .

As the steps crept closer and closer I couldn’t help but feel my heart bounding harder and harder , I can feel your heart bounding just like mine through your body since we are standing next to each other , I tried to hold my breath to stop myself from making any sound , as the door of the closet was flung open .

Luckly we are hiding in the hidden compartment behind the closet , I waited and waited as cold sweat covered my entire body , I can feel your body shivering and trembling in fear , I want to tell you not fear and that everything will be alright but I just can’t ,I just hope that everything will be ok

 

Those of you who like short sentences are going to hate reading books written in Chinese. I just looked at a random sentence in the book I'm reading right now and it has 10 commas and 102 characters. It's not even anything unusual as sentences like this or longer are commonplace in the books I read. In any case I prefer writing styles that flow smoothly and elegantly. Reading should be an enjoyable experience and the writing should be conducive to that. Aside from that, I love good exposition. It doesn't matter if it's long and barely related to the text; as long as it's informative and entertaining I'll find a lot of value in it.

 

Putting them on spoilers since its sorta long... Sorry.

Spoiler: Writings I'm not a fan/i don't like

1. I'm not a fan of light dialogues or everything is dialogue, reason why I'm not a big fan if of some Japanese light novel writing.
For example, Kenkyo, Kenjitsu o Motto ni Ikite Orimasu ( I Will Live with Humility and Dependability as My Motto
Reika-sama), has this sort of very everyday speech; dialogue focused and summarized details. Yet I still love the reading since each chapter has that element that still keep me entertained. Very slow phased yet still enjoyable.
I meant mostly when the narration is so centered on dialogues, that the world building and overall setting and conditions and rules of that setting is ambiguous and very vague... its something I don't hate. I'm just not a fan. Since often it gets to the point, that at the end of the volume the events feels like they happened in a blink of the eye. Like rushed. Usually this is compensated with good quality plot... Even if the story is dialogue focused if I like the story I'll read it.
Like with the jp light novel Villainess with destruction flags, i love it bc despite being almost mostly dialogues, the settings is clear every chapter is rich.

You could say I find unpleasant when they're so summarize and the dialogue are so simplistic and poor. Like the literal dialogue are short and there's almost none existant narrations. A good example of this is the Vampire Knight novel. Ofc, I shouldn't have expected much since they're oneshots but honestly after reading it I felt almost nothing.... "It didn't feel like a book is what I'm trying to say. It's straightforward, almost emotionless.
For example: Among the many roses in front of him, one in particular caught his eyes. It was a fresh looking one, clearly one that bloomed that night. He raise his hand and with a strong snap at the base, he cut said rose. With rose in hand, he presented it to his beloved.... " -> he put a rose in front of her. I don't like it when it's so straightforward it also kills the moods.
But, ofc this is not a must.

2. Overly repetitive writers. Very common in Korean novels but I've known Western writers too like Laurel Hamilton that just loves repeating the description of the character and his other shenanigans every f*cking book. Descriptions that is 2 pages long! Like Jesus, I've read 20 books of your f*cking serie, I f*cking know how they look like! Ahem... Sorry about that. Back on Korean novels but I think also Chinese ones... Sometimes they just love introducing and repeating how the ML or FL are great and beautiful, they're properties, houses m, lineage. Like we get it. Don't repeat the intro everytime comes into the picture a passenger/random person we'll only see in that paragraph and never again.
3. Extremely slow narrations. To the point it's ridiculous. A good example is the author of the "Ghost bird series" (reverse harem). 13 volumes and in the story, BARELY A SEMESTER PASSED. What am I talking about?! In those 10+ volumes not EVEN a semester passed. It's ridiculous. Take into account the serie started like 5-6 years ago. The teens that started reading that serie at this point are already adult.

4. Dialogues are painfully slow or unnecessary. I don't need to know every unimportant actions,...i prefer when the literal & direct dialogues starts at the aspect or topic of most important. Luckily the majority of light novels I've read are like this. They're very straightforward. Like in the webnovel "Laws of webtoon" the writers starts with a monologue withing it is mentioned the what the characters said " he told her to stand up"... Something like that. Where it doesn't open a dialogue exchanges at the smallest thing.

5. The protag gets lost when talking about metaphors or when recalling past experience to make a point.
A good example is the Japanese light novel Kyo kara Maoh. I love this story since the world building and overall general concept of the settings are clear and simple. But omg, the protag gets lose sometimes in his trail of thoughts. At one point while I was reading I don't even know what he's talking about or what's the point he's trying to explain...?

In the examples I stated above I'm mainly referring to physical books. Not web novels. Given they usually update a new chapter every week or month it's understandable that the story is slow phased which is good enough since they don't lose the readers along the way. They kept the reader's attention that way and well it's a method that make readers look forward to next chapter that they know come out within a deadline . (Like how people get addicted and accustomed to youtubers posting every week..) Example Remarried Empress on Naver, there's a new chapter every 5-4 days.

Spoiler: Things I like

Overall, I like foreshadowing writings. Those that initially present elements that seems unimportant at the very start but then they are revealed to be crucial. Those that make you go "Ahhhh... Right ~
For example the, Chinese light novel City of Endless Rain. The title itself is foreshadowing of the type of relationship the characters has (that of rain=metaphor) and the world they're in.
If I have to be frank, I like writings similar to Emily Bronte, Diana Wynne Jones (Howl's moving castle) .... Like there's a good portion of descriptive narration dedicated to settings of the story then another one for dialogues. 2 aspects that are balanced enough in a chapters.

I also like clear settings in terms of social, historical and geographical details & they are richly explained. Like authors like Theophile Gautier, Agatha Christie, j. Austen or L. M. Montgomery. Do in their work's. Or in Light novels like Ascendance of a bookworm.
But I'm no overall a fan of heavily descriptive world details. Like in Tolstoj books (Anna Karenina, or War and peace...) those books gets me lost in the reading. By lost I mean my brain goes elsewhere. Or in the light novel the novel "Duke's daughter".

 

I like first person narrative, and I like it when the author doesn't spend too much time describing things.

The story itself doesn't need to be fast-paced, I'm totally fine with slow-paced stuff (rather, I think I enjoy slow-paced stuff more), but the descriptions taking forever is a huge turn-off for me.

I mean... I'll forget the description of something 5s after I read it anyways, so why bother being over detailed with it? I won't remember it, stop wasting my time, please.

 

I like artistry when the timing is right. Or is it called subtle artistry? Anyway, some novels don't really need deep flowery words so I guess it's still based on genre.

 

I'm not picky, I don't have any favorite style as long it's readable and understandable then I'm okay with it, tho, in rare cases it helps when it's being machine translated instead of human translated, no clue why.

 

For fantasy, I actually like more descriptive language for world building.

I think there’s a good balance, since if you have too much of it, it just makes the story drag.

For the inner thoughts of a character, I prefer that to be more concise. I really don’t need a whole chapter on what’s going through a character’s mind for most of these novels.

 

I don't have any particular styles though I like styles that show the greater picture and the effects that the characters have on the world. Since it really shows the viewer a different perspective of what the Mc has accomplished in the greater world and not just from what the Mc perceives what they have done. Though I am indifferent on it being 3rd person or first person.

 

I prefer Third Person Omniscient.

Also when the author "spoils" or teases about something happening in the future. Like in INEBM, where something happened and the author will tell what will result to that, like foreshadowing but not subtle. Example too is in The Girl Who Ate A Death God. Some say it loses thrill because of the "spoilers" but i think it makes me, the reader, anticipate when that truly happened.

 

Leave the boring bits out. I don't want to read about dantians, profound qi, or some hurricanes in your body. I don't even understand it and I'm pretty sure most people don't, so it's really not necessary to go in-depth into it.

Simple writing is better, except when it comes to action scenes or something that you really want the reader to care about.

 

I tend to lean toward more descriptive or "flowery" language, as long as it's not like F. Scott Fitzgerald style where a description of a bush that doesn't really matter can take up a literal page. I have nothing against more casual sort of tones though. I think it just depends on the story! To me, each style has their charm.