Thoughts on Writing Style

It seems to be commonly accepted that one's writing style is greatly affected by the writing styles one reads. I remember Stephen King saying that a writer's style will be a conglomeration of the last three authors that writer has read. I do agree with this, but I think there are nuances beyond the basic rule.

The first is that I believe that every person has a unique personal voice which will always be present in their writing. It is the same voice we use to speak. Whether we learned it while we were young or we were born with us, the fact remains that it is in our blood. Unless I am specifically trying to sound like somebody else, like if I were parodying a piece of writing, it's always going to be recognizable as my writing. So the rule is more like: a writer's style is a conglomeration of the last three authors that writer has read and the writer's own voice.

As for "the last three authors", there is a catch there, too. Some authors are thoroughly unpalatable. Think about a textbook on world history. It has a very distinctive style, but I could never write that way (well, I could, but I never would unless I was offered money or had a gun put to my head). In fact, textbook writing is so offensive to me that I struggle to even read passages. Just reading a paragraph is a chore and a serious battle of willpower.

This isn't restricted to dry writing, either. I have read the works of many people, sometimes amateur writers, and had the exact same problem. Certain aspects of their styles were so annoying or boring that I just refused to continue reading it.

So although the authors I read will affect my style, I can only be changed so much because drastically different styles are rejected outright. And I believe that what makes a style palatable is based on one's personal style. Because of that, one's writing style is going to be more based on one's personal voice than anything else. Other authors will simply make a writer try variances of that style until a preferred one is found.