Why I Sacrificed Eloquence for Sharpness
Every writer explores different writing styles in his lifetime. If you are a serious writer, you know what I am talking about. The style isn't just indicative of how you write. It's indicative of how you prefer to write. How you prefer to think.
I have experimented with several writing styles. From stream-of-consciousness writing to short, rhythmic sentences. They were all essential to my thinking process. I realised that the style you choose should be compatible with how you think. Writing longhand automatically induces stream-of-consciousness thinking. Not necessarily polished. But the sentences carry a unique rhythm.
Writing is also thinking on paper. Longhand gives the thinking enough room to form. You write a sentence slowly. By the time you finish, the next sentence is ready in your mind. With the eloquence you prefer. The style remains intact. You seldom run out of what to write. Or how to frame the sentence. Your writing process is slow enough for your mind to finish processing.
Writing on a digital screen, on a keyboard, changed that. I can type faster than I can think. My typing speed is 250 wpm and higher. My thinking speed definitely isn't as fast. Not while keeping both style and thought intact. I can either have a thought or I can have a style. I cannot have both. By style I mean eloquence. The beauty you find in certain sentences. To bring eloquence into my sentences, I have to slow down.
But slowing down means I lose the chain of thought. I lose the momentum that fuels all kinds of writing. So good writing means continuing while letting your mind simultaneously work to support that writing. That's why good writers swear by longhand. Some wrote their best stories on a typewriter. When they do write on a keyboard, they type using only two fingers. The goal is not to rush the writing process.
Writing essays is fine. Try fiction and you will begin to see the holes in the process. That's what happened to me. I can churn out daily essays. Some days I write multiple essays. I cannot write multiple chapters of my fiction. The thinking process on the page feels daunting. The same isn't true for essays.
So I sacrificed eloquence for sharpness. I write shorter sentences. One thought, one idea at a time. No burden of constructing a sentence. Write a direct sentence. Make that sentence as short as possible. No worrying about syntax or style. The sharpness becomes the rhythm. That aligns beautifully with how I think. And how fast I type.
That is why the great writers all say that writing style is unique to every writer. Because every writing style also reveals how the writer is thinking. How the writer is expanding upon an idea or a scene. How the writer is leading you down the rabbit hole. How the articulation is functioning.
Writing style isn't something to be learned. It's to be discovered. So for all the fellow writers out there, write a lot. That's the only way to discover what kind of style you are comfortable with. Then you own that style and write your heart out.