Insightful article, Akanksha. Thanks for sharing. I'm glad you mentioned Hemmingway and Faulkner instead of Hemmingway vs Faulkner -- it's not a fight but a choice.
Based on what you've covered in this article, would it be fair to say that style is mostly subconscious? As in, we can't put a finger one what it is or how it came to be; unlike craft, which, I think, is a conscious process.
I feel building style can be a deliberate process and developed over time, consciously. For instance, how Fitzgerald and Orwell did it. Both of them experimented, wrote several books before finding their "style", which we saw on full display in their best works. Maybe that's the way to do it?
Also, thanks for getting me intrigued about Hemingway and Faulkner, need to finally read 'em and not have them stagnate on my TBR list haha.
Definitely, to reach that unconscious competence, we need a hell lot of conscious competence, starting with incompetence. Go read Hemmingway and Faulkner. Currently, I am obsessed with the writing style of Gabriel Marquez.
Insightful article, Akanksha. Thanks for sharing. I'm glad you mentioned Hemmingway and Faulkner instead of Hemmingway vs Faulkner -- it's not a fight but a choice.
Based on what you've covered in this article, would it be fair to say that style is mostly subconscious? As in, we can't put a finger one what it is or how it came to be; unlike craft, which, I think, is a conscious process.
So far what I have understood. style indeed is subconscious. anything before that is either imitation or practice.
I would like to quote myself again and say:
Style is a developmental journey from
- unconscious incompetence (no style),
- to conscious incompetence (awareness of style but unable to achieve it),
- to conscious competence (deliberately executing style),
- to unconscious competence (style flowing naturally).
I feel building style can be a deliberate process and developed over time, consciously. For instance, how Fitzgerald and Orwell did it. Both of them experimented, wrote several books before finding their "style", which we saw on full display in their best works. Maybe that's the way to do it?
Also, thanks for getting me intrigued about Hemingway and Faulkner, need to finally read 'em and not have them stagnate on my TBR list haha.
Definitely, to reach that unconscious competence, we need a hell lot of conscious competence, starting with incompetence. Go read Hemmingway and Faulkner. Currently, I am obsessed with the writing style of Gabriel Marquez.