What Your Writing Style Says about You

Picture yourself out on the streets of such a busy place as, say, New York City. There are people all over, each of them dressed differently, walking differently and generally just carrying themselves differently. Some of them may be making deliberate attempts to walk in a similar manner, or to maintain a certain posture while others just walk and generally go about their business in life. And it’s all functional, they all get where they want to be, how they want to.

The same case applies to writing; the styles of writing used today are as eclectic as the many authors that there are today. Some of them make strained efforts to achieve a certain type of writing, to varying degrees of success, while to others, the story determines the approach that they adopt. However, since it is hard to cover each author’s style to a sufficient level of detail, the types of writing used by authors can be classified into one of four classes. They include expository writing, persuasive writing, descriptive writing, and narrative writing.

Expository writing

Each author’s featured style of writing can reveal a great deal of information about them such as their intentions, personality, among other traits. Expository writing, for instance, is among the most common types of writing that there are in the world. In expository writing, the author will normally be explaining something, whether it is a situation, a place, a person, or an object using facts and relevant statistical figures without the introduction of the personal opinions. Expository writing is mainly subject oriented and its primary intention is usually to inform on a given subject. It will often flow logically and sequentially. You will commonly find it in textbooks, news features, how-to guides, among other factual types of writing that do not need the author’s opinion.

Descriptive writing

Just as the name suggests, descriptive writing is mainly aimed at describing. This type of writing goes deep into the details of a character, a place, an object, or an event so as to paint a visual image of the same in the reader’s mind. It is characterized by the ostentatious use of adjectives in creative ways. Authors who embrace a descriptive style of writing will usually take the time to observe or imagine the subject of their writing first and then translate it into writing in the highest level of detail possible. In this approach of writing, the author often has to be poetic not out of choice, but out of the need to paint graphic mental pictures. Descriptive writing is commonly a feature of poetry, personal writings such as journal or diary entries, nature writing, or fiction.

Persuasive writing

The mention of persuasive writing brings to mind the memories of all great orators, as this is their trademark, more often than not. It has one primary purpose, and that is to convince and to change opinions. As opposed to expository writing, persuasive writing involves and thrives on the author’s opinions or biases. After all, it is not possible to convince someone to agree with you if you do not let him or her know what they are agreeing to, is it? To be attractive and convincing, the author will have reasons and justifications for their point of view. You will commonly find persuasive writing in advertisements, cover letters, and editorial newspaper columns.

Narrative writing

The noun “narrative” is derived from the verb “narrate.” As that suggests, a narrative style of writing is usually aimed at telling a story. Such a type of writing is often the creation of the author, including all the characters, places, timelines, other objects, and the flow of events. The author on essay republic may often take the position of one character to narrate in the first person. At the end of a narrative piece of writing, the author hopes to reveal the answer to the question, “What happened?”

Interpreting the style

The as indicated in the description of each type of writing, it reveals the intention of the author. A descriptive piece of writing is indicative of a need to generate mental images for different reasons, for instance. If they adopt a persuasive, you instantly recognize that the author intends to market their point of view and change your mind. The writing style may also be indicative of the target audience. Descriptive writing with a poetic touch is most likely targeted at the creative folk while simply worded narrative writing is more likely to be targeted at children. The style also indicates the author’s perception of the audience.

An author that chooses to combine multiple styles of writing, for instance, may be indicating the sophistication they perceive their audience to possess. Finally, the style can easily give away the author’s personality. A persuasive person is likely to use a persuasive style of writing while a highly creative author most likely uses a descriptive style. The success of the deployment of these styles depends on your knowledge of your audience, which in turn depends on your emotional intelligence. If you master emotional intelligence, you can succeed using any style for any audience.