- What's up, my friend? Abbie here, and welcome back
to WritersLife Wednesdays, where we come together to help
you make your story matter and make your author dreams come true. Today, we're talking
about how you should stop trying to be a good writer, as in stop writing pretty prose in attempts to impress
somebody who doesn't care. You're ruining your story. You're ruining your life. I'm serious. Tell me if this sounds familiar. You've always enjoyed writing, but now you're doing it
way more than you used to. So, now you're thinking, hey, maybe I could make a career out of this. So, you start studying
it and researching it and learning from the masters, and you hear the advice
that you should read, read, read, read, read,
read, read, read, read in order to become a better writer. No problem. You love reading anyway. So, you buy all the books,
you read all the books, and then you quickly realize, maybe I'm not so good
at this writing thing. Not compared to Jane Austen. Not compared to F. Scott Fitzgerald. Not compared to Ernest Hemingway. How do they craft such beautiful prose? It takes you like 20 minutes to put together a halfway decent sentence, and then you stare at it
for another 20 minutes until you hate it and delete it. If you struggle to write good
prose, this video is for you. Why does your story matter? Good question. What if I told you that there's a science behind every great story? I don't just teach you how to write. I teach you how to change
the world with your story and make your author dreams come true. George Orwell once said, "Good prose should be
transparent, like a window pane," and I couldn't agree more. The opposite of this is
something that's known as stained glass window prose, AKA prose that is trying
to be so ostentatious and beautiful that it ends up distracting from what it's actually
trying to show you. Is pretty prose awesome? Yes, sometimes it can be, but you should never sacrifice your story on the altar of making
your writing sound good. That's like baking a really beautiful cake that tastes like crap. Like, yeah, you want your cake
to be beautiful, obviously, but the most important thing
is that it tastes good. So, the first thing you
should ask yourself right now is why do I want to write beautiful prose? Be honest with yourself. Why exactly is this so important to you? Are you trying to impress
someone or prove to yourself that you can be just as good
of a writer as so-and-so? If so, you're doing it
for the wrong reasons. Yes, you should want to
impress your readers, but the most impressive thing you can do is make your readers feel something. So, when you're sitting
there and you're writing and you're trying to
craft beautiful sentences that are lyrical and
poetic and impressive, don't ask yourself, how
do I make this sound good? Instead, ask yourself what
exactly is happening here? And how does my point of view character interpret it through their eyes? That, to me, is so much more important than actual writing style. Writing style should change, okay? It shouldn't just be I'm so and so and I write beautiful lyrical,
poetic, ostentatious prose. You're stepping into this story. You're stepping into the
shoes of a character. You are being immersed in
their story, in their world, and you're hearing their voice. This is what I've always
felt about writing style. I have writers ask me all the time, how do I find my writing style? What, where does writing style come from? When will I develop my writing style? And I never think of
writing style like that. I feel like my writing style
changes from story to story with every project I write, because I'm writing new characters. I'm writing a new world every time, and how my character sees the world and sees their experiences is based off of their own
desires, fears, and misbeliefs. That's the lens they see reality through, and their voice is the voice
I want my reader to hear. I don't want my reader to hear my voice. I want them to hear the character's voice. I want them to feel like they're immersed in the character's perspective. And if that character is not
a flowery, poetic person, then it just won't make sense to have my prose be technically pretty when that character is narrating. It would be so much better for my reader to feel what my character is feeling and understand why my character sees the world the way they do. The most important thing
is that your reader always understands what is going on, because a confused mind always says no. Now, that doesn't mean beautiful
writing will be confusing. Beautiful writing shouldn't be confusing. Even if it's more poetic and lyrical, it should still be clear, okay? It should still be that window pane showing you what is beyond the window. We don't want to just get distracted looking at the window itself. Words in a story, in a book, in a novel, in whatever you're writing, the words are designed not to be pretty in and of themselves, but to
show you something deeper, to show you what is beyond the words. Every sentence should be a
window into something else. Now, that window can be beautiful, yes. However, beauty is in
the eye of the beholder. Some people will love a
particular writing style. Other people will hate it. All of those authors I
mentioned in the intro, that I was crying about not
being able to write like them, some people hate their writing style. One stars. You can't win. Not by those means. I mean, like, there is
no perfect story, okay? There is no book that every person loves. Just doesn't exist, so you better accept
that fact of life now, or else you will be super disappointed when you go and put your
work out in the world. So, my point is this, there is no standard that you
should be aspiring to, okay? Every writer's writing style is different. As long as your reader
understands what's going on and they feel what your
character is feeling, in my opinion, there is no
greater achievement as a writer. Like, that's personally
all I'm trying to achieve when I write, is how can
I make this emotional? How can I describe
exactly what is going on in a way that makes my
reader feel something? Not that they'll be impressed by the way I was able to word that sentence or construct this beautiful description. I don't care about that. In fact, I find simple
writing the most impressive. If you can show me
something really precise with just a few words, if you can make me feel
something really deep with just a few words, that is so much more powerful than the most beautifully,
well-thought out, well-crafted paragraph. So, bottom line, don't
worry about trying to match or outdo someone else's writing style or someone else's prose. Just worry about finding your
own style, your own voice. Worry about making your
reader feel something. Make your story matter to you. Then set out to make your reader feel your characters' emotions. And if you can do that, congratulations, you're a good writer. Okay, boom. That's it. Time for you to talk to me. Comment below this video and tell me what do you think about this topic? I want to hear all your thoughts. Beautiful prose and flowery,
ostentatious sentences, or raw, simple writing that
makes you feel something? What do you prefer? I want to know, comment below. Smash that like button
if you liked this video, and be sure to subscribe to this channel if you haven't already,
because I post writing videos and publishing videos
every single Wednesday, and I would love to have
you here in the community. Also, be sure to check out my Patreon, because that's where we go beyond videos and take storytelling to the next level. The Patreon community
is not only the best way to support what I'm doing here on YouTube, but it's also the only way
to connect one-on-one with me and get better guidance on your story. So, go to patreon.com/abbieemmons and check out all the
awesome exclusive content I have over there for you. Until next week, my friend, rock on. (gentle pop music) Oh my god, are you serious? I didn't turn my mic on? I've seen so many people
who are like praising "The Great Gatsby" to high heavens, and then I've seen like so
many one-star reviews for it. Like, this book sucks. I hate it. (laughs) It's like, okay, you can't win.
