Writerisms and other Sins: A Writer's Shortcut to Stronger Writing by C.J. Cherryh

Writing more fiction is one of the things on my @Someday/Maybe list. I distinctly remember kicking short fiction's ass around in junior and senior high school, but then I went to college, got busy trying to earn some degrees, and lost my will to write. Then again, memories warp and fade, and I suspect that my high school writing ability was not as amazing as I think it was[1].

This is why I'm pleased to run across an article on "writerisms" found via 43 Folders. One of the hardest things for me is understanding that different audiences demand different writing styles. Business writing is not the same as technical mailing list writing. You write blog entries differently than you write fiction. Me? I just write. I write what I think, grammatical errors be damned, and if I'm lucky then you hear the same voice in your head when you read it that I do when I wrote it. Obviously, this is not the way to make zillions getting your books published. And thus, if success is to be gotten, improvements are required.

[1] A big percentage of my fuzzy braggadocio comes from the gushing praise showered upon me by my hot 7th grade English teacher, "Stevie". I had a serious thing for her back then, and so hearing "your writing is really terrific" come out of her mouth was pretty much the same for me as watching Phoebe Cates get out of the swimming pool in slow motion in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.