Today, we’re moving into our series on The Five Elements of Fiction, with a closer look at Style.

When we speak of style in storytelling, we’re not talking about an author’s wardrobe (thank goodness!). We’re talking about how an author tells a story. Style encompasses author choices like perspective and tense, word choice, sentence variety, showing and telling, and voice.

In many ways, style is the invisible fiction element. It’s everywhere on the page, and hard to pin down at the same time. It’s the way a piece of fiction makes you feel, makes you think, brings you back to the same authors again and again.

And while some authors have a gift for stylistically beautiful writing, style can be learned. It can be broken down and studied, and that means you can grow in this area.

Another important observation about style: Every author has a style, and each book has a style. These two spheres certainly overlap, but one book cannot possibly define an author’s style, which is another place for encouragement. What you’ve done in the past doesn’t define you. Not entirely. You are capable of change, and you should not feel cornered into writing as you’ve always done.

Think of Marcus Zusak. He’s the bestselling, award winning author of The Book Thief. It’s a story narrated by Death, featuring a young German girl during WWII. The novel catapulted him onto list after list, and rightfully so. Stylistically, it’s brilliant.

Prior to writing The Book Thief, Zusak wrote another novel called I Am The Messenger. It was also critically acclaimed, but it didn’t receive anything close to the fanfare of The Book Thief. I Am The Messenger is about a young cab driver who inadvertently stops a bank robbery and, in doing so, flips his entire world upside down.

Both books are fascinating works of fiction, both show Zusak’s trademark skill, and the publisher even tried to double down on the success of The Book Thief by repackaging I Am The Messenger with a matching cover, but stylistically they’re very different.

Except where they aren’t.

The Book Thief is told in past tense, third person, omniscient perspective, with titled chapters, and experimental section headers given by Death. It could have been a hot mess. It could have been too much, but it works because Zusak’s made the best syle decisions for the story he wanted to tell, and it rang true with readers.

I Am The Messenger, Zusak’s debut novel, is told in present tense, first person perspective. It also has titled chapters, and establishes the brutal honesty in storytelling Zusak will come to be known for. The characters in this one are all foul-mouthed and gritty–very real, much more contemporary–but, like his historical work, The Book Thief, there’s an otherworldly aspect to this story as well. We just don’t get to see it right away.

Zusak’s books are easily identifiable as his, not because he refuses to alter his style, but because even in all the alterations, we hear his voice.

So, as you work, as you grow, as you decide to do this story differently than that one, be aware that some of who you are as a writer will continue to mark your works. And that’s a beautiful thing.

Style: Breaking it Down

As mentioned previously, style might feel slippery and hard to define, but it can be broken down, and individual elements practiced.

Perspective & Tense: Two of the most fundamental decisions you make when writing a story is who’s narrating it, and when did this story take place. You have lots of options with perspective. You can tell a story in:

• First person: Uses “I” for the point of view character
• Second person: Uses “You” for the point of view character (tricky, tricky business with this one!)
• Third person limited: Uses “he/she” for the point of view character, sticking with one point of view character at a time
• Third person omniscient: Uses “he/she” for the point of view character, but with a gods-eye view of the entire story

Tense is more limited. You can tell a story that happened in the past or in the present, as it’s unfolding. Future tense might be fun to play with as well, but that would need to be a very particular kind of story!

The perspectives and tenses you decide on will impact your story in many ways. The first drafts of my debut novel, Angel Eyes, were written in first person, past tense. After reading The Hunger Games, I realized my book needed the same active immediacy, so I rewrote the entire book in present tense. It was a huge undertaking, but that wasn’t my final change. After signing with a publisher, my editor suggested that we leave only my protagonist’s chapters in first person, so I rewrote the book again with the other point of view characters in third person limited. These very basic, very straightforward adjustments shifted the entire focus and tone of the book.

So, play with different perspectives and tenses. See what works best for each individual story. What works for one, may not necessarily work for another.

Word choice: Authors have an invisible word bank. Did you know that? In truth, everyone on the planet has an invisible word bank. We each collect words as we live and listen, talk and read. These words start out as undefined, unfamiliar sounds, but as we navigate life, as we grow, as we come to understand words and their meaning, we begin to form not only a store of words, but a treasure trove of concepts and phrases.

Words are not only tools for an author, but they show us a history of that author as well. Somehow, some way, the authors of your favorite books have collected the words they used to enchant you, and it’s a testament to their commitment to live and learn, and finally, to put words to their experiences on this planet. You too can take living and learning seriously, and in doing so, collect words with which to weave your magic.

Sentence variety / Dialogue: Each of these pieces and parts of style slide one into the other, but none more so than sentence structure fitting into word choice.

Words aren’t enough on their own, but when used in a variety of sentence structures, they create the cadence and pace of a story. Longer sentences often slow things down, while shorter sentences are the high knees that keep things moving. The balance of dialogue and exposition is also a style choice that can change the entire face of a story. Play with this balance. Try the same scene with dialogue and without. Consider which style rings most true to the story you’re telling, and then ask for feedback. How you tell a story matters.

Showing and Telling: I’m teaching a short story class this year, and I’m realizing that showing and telling is often a style choice. How often does an author choose to show? How often does an author choose to tell? The balance here, or lack thereof, is very intentional in short fiction, and that can certainly be the case for long fiction as well. Exposition reads differently than dialogue mixed with action. It gives an entirely different reading experience, so we must look carefully at these choices when we consider style.

Voice: Voice is the final, magic ingredient that turns all of the above into a cohesive, compelling narrative. It’s all of these things, and none of these things. It’s how an author weaves together word choice, sentence variety, showing and telling, perspective and tense. It’s the author’s accent, if you will, and it can be refined with practice, just as an actor works to perfect the different dialects needed for their roles on the stage. When it’s all working as the author intended, we see their voice. And their voice, while not the whole of style, is usually what we remember most when we think of an author.

We revisit books and authors because we want to hear their voice tell us a story. And as we grow in each of these areas, our voice, and our style will shine ever more fully.

Tell me, which books do you find stylistically beautiful? And which areas of story style do you struggle with the most? How can we help?

Shannon Dittemore is an author and speaker. Her books include the Angel Eyes trilogy, a supernatural foray into the realm of angels and demons, as well as the fantastical adventure novel Winter, White and Wicked. Its sequel, Rebel, Brave and Brutal is due out January 10, 2023.

Shannon’s stories feature strong female leads grappling with fear and faith as they venture into the wilds of the unknown. She’s often wondered if she’s writing her own quest for bravery again and again.

It’s a choice she values highly. Bravery. And she’s never more inspired than when young people ball up their fist and punch fear in the face.

To that end, Shannon takes great joy in working with young writers, both in person and online at Go Teen Writers, an instructional blog recognized by Writer’s Digest four years running as a “101 Best Websites for Writers” selection.

For more about Shannon and her books, please visit her website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.