Blog #8

It's really hard for me to analyze my own style of writing. I don’t think it’s quite too formal or extremely personal. I guess the way I write is as though I’m meeting someone for the second or third time. I’m at a place where I’m comfortable enough to express my thoughts, but not necessarily spill my guts out. It’s kind of like a slightly edited stream of consciousness. Just as Vonnegut writes like someone from Indianapolis, I write like someone from West Palm Beach, Florida. My writing doesn’t have a Southern twang or a Northern pretension (at least I don’t think). It’s somewhere in the middle. My audience definitely reflects my writing style. Their age, class, and even gender can change how I write. For instance, if I was writing for Cosmo I wouldn’t mind slipping in some feminist thoughts, or if I was writing for my friend’s third grade class I would make my sentences less open and more binding, direct, and clear. I do agree with Vonnegut that writing is more about what you say than how you say it, so perhaps my content would change more than my style. In the end, isn’t content what readers are after? They want information or a fresh perspective. Usually writing style is a reflection of how one speaks, so I suppose if I would speak differently to one person than I would to another my writing would reflect that change. I really loved Vonnegut’s examples of simple, yet beautiful sentences. One of my weaknesses as a writer is that I get to carried away and write more than I need too, which probably confuses the reader. Until reading this passage I thought these types of sentences were necessary for writing to be considered beautiful and eloquent. Now I’ll do my best to change this, which I’m sure will change my style to some extent.