by Arden Davidson

Created on: September 01, 2009

Developing your own personal writing style requires you to convey your thoughts, feelings and ideas in ways which no one else has. This cannot be achieved by copying other writers' styles. Nor can it be accomplished by using clichs and obvious comparisons. Using worn out phrases such as "a matter of life or death" or trite analogies like "as blue as the sky" is what is considered to be 'lazy writing'. It means you have just written down the first thing that came to your mind, rather than pushing your brain to explore new, more interesting possibilities.

Coming up with entirely new thoughts that have never been contemplated before is a virtual impossibility. However, expressing those thoughts in ways that they have never been expressed, is the true essence of distinctive writing. So instead of writing "a matter of life or death" to describe your harrowing experience, try putting your own personal twist on the sentiment, such as "I knew that if I lived, I would never again fear death". Or, instead of describing your lover's eyes as "blue as the sky", search your mind for something less obvious that you could compare the blue of your lover's eyes to, for example, "eyes as blue as the flag of Argentina" or "eyes as blue as the ribbon I won in the first grade spelling bee".

This is not to say that in order to develop your own writing style, every sentence you write has to be uniquely profound. Not even Ernest Hemingway or Edgar Allen Poe was able to spin a matchless web of wisdom every time they penned a new line. However, if you are seeking to become a better writer - a more interesting, intriguing and poignant writer - then it is essential to hone your craft by expressing your observations in such a way that the reader will instantly know that you were the author, even without seeing your name.

Just as there are certain recording artists that you recognize immediately every time you hear them sing, there are also certain writers whose style is immediately identifiable. Becoming just such a writer is a rare and distinctive achievement. However those writers who strive hard enough to make themselves distinguishable and unique - those writers who look past the trite and the obvious - those are the ones who transcend beyond the term 'writer', to become literary legends.

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