Day 425: Style and Visualization

Every writer has their own style, every book, its own flavor. Creating powerful imagery is one of the most important aspects of writing in all its forms. From poetry to technical manuals, the best writing shows the reader exactly what they need, no more, no less. While working to improve this skill, I've seen many, many different styles of writing. Each book I read forms in mind's eye in a different way from the next and I'm endlessly fascinated by the texture that the best writers are able to inject into their stories.

I started thinking about this while reading 'Jane Eyre.' Bronte's choice of setting, her style, and the tone of the story had me imagining the things I read as an ever expanding oil painting. Whenever I recall the stories I've read I see them in the same style I read at the time, and so I'll always see Thornfield Hall and the surrounding estate the same way. Some stories I end up visualizing in a more realistic style, usually sci-fi due to the tendencies of the authors who prefer this genre. Some stories read more like movies, some more like cartoons, and I can usually tell which writers have watched way more than they've read (guilty, to be honest). What intrigues me the most are the authors who have a shifting style. Toni Morrison is one of those who shifts between the ethereal, head-hopping eyeball that sees all, and the more straightforward realism that I tend to associate with sci-fi. Literary fiction is the most varied in style of what I've read. Sometimes it feels like realism, sometimes it feels like a painting, and sometimes there's an indescribable sense that it exists in some other form than I'm used to. 'John LeCarre writes 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' is all in tones of shifting gray and black and white. 'Harry Potter' reads like a dream. I love reading new stories because exposing myself to these new styles helps me build my own. Of course, it can always use more work, so I guess I'll just have to keep reading.

I'm never quite sure what it is that makes me visualize a certain way. It only cements into a certain style after several pages, sometimes many chapters of reading. Unlike most other things I can point out about a writer that I like, the flavor of how I end up visualizing their work seems more ephemeral. I wish I could figure it out and use this intentionally, but as for now, it's just a feeling I get and nothing more. Maybe it'll be clear one day and I can finally say I've mastered it. Somehow, I'm not even sure it's possible.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley