Week 8: Style
To begin I want to say that this chapter was really
enlightening. I enjoyed learning about all of the elements of style. However, I
have not had an opportunity to find many of these styles in my reading, as I do
not have time to read apart from my studies. So, this blog post seemed like it
would very difficult to complete. How was I going to be able to find paragraphs
that had any of these styles? I don’t read often enough to be in a successful
search for these style choices. However, this week I found time to pick up a
book and begin reading. I was immediately surprised to find how often these
style choices are used in the books we read.
The style choice I choose to include in this blog post is
the anecdote. I choose to share this style because out of all the style choices
it drew me. My example comes from Richard Paul Evan’s book Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25.
“If you’ve ever had a black eye,
you’ll know what my day was like. Everyone just stared at me like I was a freak
or something. By the end of the day I was walking with my head down and my eyes
partially covered by a copy of the school paper – the Meridian WarwhoopI. Still, the day wasn’t all bad. I didn’t see Mr.
Dallstrom once, and there was no sign of Jack or his friends. I figured I had
probably scared them off for at least a few days.”
I love how this anecdotal commentary from the main character
of the author is able to draw the reader in and feel as if he/she can connect with
the situation and the character. For me it was extremely successful at grabbing
and maintaining my attention. This was a powerful and good use of the anecdotal
style. It got my attention at least.
The anecdotal style is really tricky; even for skilled writers it can often sound terribly contrived. That is a good example, though. If you can pull it off it's one of the most effective ways to connect with the reader.
ReplyDeleteI thought I would have a hard time finding style too. Interestingly there is style everywhere! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThat's a good example. Anecdotal-style can be relatable or shocking to readers. Sometimes is necessary based on the perspective of the character. Glad you found time to read something other than a textbook!
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