Narrative style

Last but not least: the narrative style. This is arguably the most complicated, compound style, which makes it the most intriguing for me, personally. Narrative style is used to tell a story, be it a fairy-tale, a novel, a poem, a short story or any other genre of fiction. One could argue that this style may incorporate other styles, should the storyline require. A narration is usually the role of one or multiple storytellers: the story can be told by the author or from the perspective of one of the characters, or several.

The reason why this style is the most interesting to me is because it can contain so many markers characteristic of the personal writing style. Even as the author strives to make his characters sound realistic and different form each other, the mere way that (s)he goes about it gives away the author’s individual style. A skilled novelist will not make a young provincial girl studying literature and a weary old soldier speak in the same way. In dialogues their words would be meant to reflect their history and personality. If the narrator is the author, the same scene will be described differently than if it were worded by one of the characters. And yet, when taken as a whole story, no matter how skilled the author is in weaving speech-patterns and styles for the characters, the writer’s own individual style can be identified.

Individual style

In fact, every choice the author makes on all levels of the storytelling is characteristic of the individual writing style. If there are characters, then it is an author’s choice whether they have their own speaking manners or not. Sometimes the writer chooses to make all the characters speak in a similar way, sometimes, on the contrary, their remarks give the reader additional insight into their persona. Even mistakes or irregularities, oddly placed punctuation marks and made-up words can be used to recognize a particular author. Every little detail about the narration matters. Whether to focus on colours and sounds in the description of places, or help understand the layout of the stage. Whether to make the text focused on the action, dynamic unravelling of the plot, or make the feelings and thoughts of characters the main driving force behind the story. How detailed the descriptions are, which tropes are favoured, how quickly the plot moves and which actors are used to advance it. The literary means, the structure of the clauses, the favoured vocabulary, the oddities, the imagery — every little choice of word (or even a comma), conscious or not, adds to the unique signature: a writer’s individual style.

And the more choices are involved, the more data there is for me to analyze, the more accurate my analysis can be. That’s why narrative texts are my favourite.