Types of Writing Styles and Techniques With 4 Great Examples
We have several effective Writing Styles, and techniques that help to express and put forth our points better. We might not always realize this, but writing is a talent that has the potential to change your life and the lives that surround you. Writing is one of the most powerful means of communicating your thoughts and ideas to your target reader. It has the power to move you, and empower you with the strength to change the world.
4 Major Types of Writing Styles, And Techniques with Examples
Today we are going to discuss the different writing styles, and techniques to help you write better content. Ever since humans learned to write, we’ve had the tendency to put our musings into written words. It is an effective way of letting the world know of your feelings, thoughts, and notions on every matter, big and small.
Besides the joyous nature of the activity, writing is regarded as one of the most popular and lucrative forms of career for people from various fields today. Writing has become an ineluctable part of our lives, especially with the internet being an omnipresent factor. Written content is vital to get the core message across. However, proper planning and organization go into creating that perfect copy to achieve excellence.
Writing helps us to pen down our ideas and thoughts. We can then transmit information to the audience in a way that makes the message indelible.
In the words of famous author Isabel Allende
Write what should not be forgotten.
This is a mantra that individuals and organizations have to imbibe in their system in order to carve a niche for themselves in this vast domain of the online professional community. Create Content that is going to linger in your reader’s mind. Give them something to ponder over.
This way, you will always remain at the top in the minds of consumers. Moreover, this will give you an edge over your competitors and will propel success in fulfilling your objectives. Remember, all the success of your writing efforts are dependent on the way your readers will perceive the write-up.
But how to achieve that?
Now, it might be hard to believe, but every one of us writes or has written at some point in life. Whether it is a journal, a poem, a personal diary, or a novel people have written down their thoughts. However, we are not always aware of the different styles and techniques that make writing more powerful and leave an impact that is difficult to brush off.
We need to grasp the concepts of the Different writing styles, and techniques for effective communication.
For businesses to turn into a popular brand, proper communication skills are a vital component of their marketing strategy. Adopting a suitable writing style will help them to get the mission and objectives of the brand communicated successfully.
Every one of us is different. We have our unique traits, and idiosyncrasies. In the same way, every one of us writes in a different unique manner. We all have that particular attribute that is exclusive to ourselves. Knowing the different writing styles helps to unearth our potential and bring variety to our writing journey. After all, there is no growth without learning and experimenting.
How To Develop Impeccable Writing Skills With different writing styles and Techniques.
Any art is perfected by a combination of practice, discipline, and resolve. To develop proficiency in different writing styles, you have to take the first step: practice writing.
Understand where your inclinations are. Also, know which are your strengths and your weaknesses. Honing your skills requires you to be honest about your shortcomings. Once you have determined them fortify your strengths and improve on your weaknesses. Read and practice writing to understand the nuances of each writing style and technique in-depth.
One of the most effective ways of developing your writing skills and applying them for a lucrative career option is to enroll in a content writing course. These courses not only help you to develop a certain habit of writing consistently, but also help in polishing your skills, and provide you with strategies to embellish your writing.
Since all the writing styles and techniques are covered in these courses you get a 360 degrees understanding of the writing process for different formats.
There are multitudinous advantages to gaining a proper understanding of these writing styles. You get the clarity and the confidence to apply for different high-paying writing jobs. This can lead to an extremely rewarding career full of perks, the biggest of them being being able to work from the ambience of your own space.
Exploring and understanding the different writing styles and techniques helps in forging a connection with your target reader better. You should aim for variety when catering to your target base. Continuing with the same style might bring about a sense of monotony.
Without more ado, let’s look at the major styles of writing. They enable you to write more crisp and better content so that it enhances your writing prowess. That, in, turn, helps your content to resonate with your customer long after it has gone live.
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Though we delineate four major styles of writing here, there are several categories and subcategories to these writing styles.
1. Expository Writing Style
The first on our list is the expository writing style. This is the type of writing that aims to explain, inform, and educate readers about relevant subjects. It is one of the most widely used writing styles, mainly adopted to impart important information to the target reader. Expository writing is objective in nature and is concerned with only facts.
The word expository writing has come from exposition which is an explanation of a particular topic. Everything that requires some sort of explanation comes under the ambit of expository writing.
It might include writing on human experiences, and emotions, for topics relating to the subject. However, storytelling is not a major part of it, relaying facts is the motive.
Though the expository writing style is descriptive in nature, there is a subtle difference. The difference between expository and descriptive writing styles is that, expository writing style conveys facts and there isn’t much room for creativity from the viewpoint of the writer. It is straightforward writing that disseminates information that can help the target reader in some way.
This type of writing generally answers the what, why, how, which of a particular topic.
a) Technical Writing
Technical writing is to provide insights to the common man regarding subjects that are generally jargon-laden and requires simplification to get the message across. Such type of writing explains to the target reader about a particular product, service, or topic in a simple way so that it is easily comprehended.
b) Business Writing
Business writing is another type of expository writing style that communicates the operations of a business to concerned parties.
c) How-to Guides
A leader derives immense value from this topic in an expository writing style. How to guide come with a solution to the readers’ problems thereby eliminating some difficulty that they are facing.
d) Textbooks
Textbooks are some of the finest examples of expository writing style. Here the writer only presents facts and does not resort to providing their opinions on the subject matter.
While these are essentially the main types of writing style, there are several other subcategories that can be counted among the Writing styles and techniques. Some are objective and subjective writing, creative writing, unconventional and unique poem like haiku, etc.
Expository Writing Techniques
Expository writing is about communicating facts. Therefore, we do not have a conversational style of writing. Use the third person to write expository articles.
Write in an active voice, state facts clearly, write short and concise paragraphs, use examples. These are popular tips for creating an effective expository write-up.
2. Descriptive Writing Style
The descriptive writing style is one of the most favourite forms of writing styles for writers. A descriptive writing style is an evocative piece that invokes emotions in people. By creating write-ups that are reminiscent of vivid hues and alluring descriptions, the writer reels the reader in.
Descriptive writing is found in fiction as well as non-fiction. Travel blogs travel journals, descriptive blogs are examples of descriptive writing styles. The author tries to help the readers to summon their senses to create a realistic and lucid picture in their minds about all that they read.
Most descriptive writing styles use a variety of things including similes, assonance, metaphors. alliterations, to explain the points better. Analogies also work brilliantly with descriptive writing Style.
Descriptive writeups can be accompanied by illustrations, pictures, and images to further give fodder to your imaginative mind.
A lot of you might have some confusion regarding the difference between a simile and metaphor. Though both are used for comparison purposes, their usage is a little different.
A simile
The little girl was as innocent as an angel.
A metaphor
The little girl is an angel
While the first one compares the little girl to an angel, the second one directly states that the little girl is an angel. Thus the difference between a simile, and a metaphor.
It is to be noted that narrative writing style and descriptive writing style have a very thin line differentiating the two. The difference is in the way the write-up is created. Descriptive writing communicates a striking description of a particular event. They are generally short and only delineate a significant concept or incident. A narrative is long and gives you a complete picture.
a) Journaling
A fine example of a descriptive writing style is journaling. Write down your honest thoughts and feelings describing them and provide mental imagery of all that you want to convey.
b) Song Lyrics
Song lyrics are short, exciting, and thought-provoking. It captivates the reader in a concise number of words. It might be a description of nature, a particular event, or a place. You should have a repertoire of words to enchant your readers and make an impact.
d) Travel Blogs
Travel Blogs are today one of the most popular forms of writing. They allow for a lot of people to live vicariously through other people’s experiences and descriptions. This is why a travel blog is one of the best descriptive styles of writing.
Use adjectives, synonyms, and enhance your travel blogs with accurate descriptions for people to derive value from them. The greatest advantage of writing a travel blog is people connect with you very easily. You are giving them a means of recreation and uplifting their mood. Describe the place and add your opinions to give the main idea of how it is to personally experience the surroundings and nature.
Descriptive Writing Tips
You should continuously look towards improving your vocabulary. Using new words that help to describe better and an informal conversational style of writing communicates the points to your target reader much more effectively. When your reader feels a sense of familiarity they forge a bond with you. That goes a long way in helping you to get a consistent readership. You are more enthused to create better content that is compelling and your work gets advocates for your skills in the form of loyal readers.
3. Narrative Writing Style
The narrative writing style is involved with depicting a story encompassing all elements that make it intriguing. This style of writing is almost always found in fiction majorly. Narrative writing is riveting and enthrals you. An impactful narrative writing style can open up the imaginative mind and help you to literally see what’s happening in the story by the mere power of words.
This writing style piques your interest and can sometimes communicate important messages through storytelling. It can motivate you to take the right steps.
What you need is a plan on how to execute your writing. If you are writing a novel or a short story, you need to have a proper structure in place. Otherwise, the sequences are haphazard and you lose your chance of holding the attention of your target reader.
It doesn’t have to be a proper intro, body, and conclusion as in other forms of writing styles. Since narrative writing is mostly creative, you can start the plot from whichever point in the story you want. Only make sure that your hook is strong enough to capture the readers’ attention. Maintain a flow, use flashbacks, alliterations, symbolisms, powerful dialogues, and the magic of words to enchant your target readers.
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4. Persuasive Writing Style
Persuasive Writing Style as the name suggests is meant to persuade the target reader into believing in the author’s conviction. The one prominent feature of persuasive writing style that differentiates it from the rest of the writing styles and techniques is that persuasive writing strives to convince the readers of the author’s opinion and points of view.
It is backed by their own personal experiences, facts and evidence, and their belief in the standpoint they have. We might feel that adjectives are reserved for the descriptive and narrative style of writing but persuasive writing requires you to use adjectives to have that right impact on your target reader. Adverbs also play a significant role in persuasive writing to get the message across.
If you visit social media sites and digital other platforms you will see the term FOMO being used quite often.
The full form of FOMO is Fear Of Missing Out.
This can be used in persuasive writing to convince a person to do a particular activity so that they don’t miss out on a great experience. It holds especially true for sales and advertisements.
Some forms of persuasive writing are as follows:
a) Sales Copy
A sales copy is designed in such a way that it aims to persuade the target customer about the utility of a product or service. It has distinctive writing where you not only describe what your product or service is, but also how it is going to help your target consumers to allay their problems. The use of powerful words is necessary for this style of writing as it is a convincing tool. When you are adept at using powerful words that propel a call to action, the results are huge.
b) Resume and CV
In the same way, a resume or CV should be created in the bid to land that coveted job you so desire. Therefore it has to be persuasive by carefully delineating all the features that help you stand out among the thousands of applicants.
c) Cover letters
Cover letters generally come with a CV and resume and persuade the potential employer or client about your qualities and how you can be an asset to their team.
d)Reviews and Opinion Pieces
Reviews and opinion pieces are meant to influence the target reader’s mind into believing and accepting that whatever the writer has written holds a lot of weightage. Opinion pieces and reviews are great fodders for thought.
e) Advertisements
Advertisements help to convey information about a product or service to the public. It is meant to disseminate important information as well as persuade the customers to buy the products and services of the brand.
Advertisements are almost always paid forms of promotion which is why they have to be crisp and be able to create an impact on the customer’s mind. This is one of the oldest forms of persuasive writing which is aimed at convincing and converting leads into consumers and finally brand advocates.
f) Argumentative Writing
Argumentative writing is a form of persuasive writing that gives you statistical figures, quotes, and analyses to bolster their claims. It is used by academic institutions a lot.
Argumentative writing nurtures the minds of the students by the process of well thought out methodology. The students design a bunch of questions and surveys which helps them to understand the matter and further cement a point of view. It is not only beneficial for the people writing an argumentative write-up, but also for someone who reads. It helps to glean knowledge, build confidence in oneself. You develop the qualities of good research.
Key points of the Persuasive Style of Writing
A persuasive style of writing will compel you to think about the points a writer has made since they substantiate them with evidence. The main objective of the write-up is to gain the confidence of the target reader. However, it calls for proper justifications to prove its authenticity. Otherwise, it can become propaganda which can be detrimental to society as a whole. When done correctly, persuasive writing makes a real impact that resonates with the target reader even years after it is published.
Conclusion
One thing to remember in all of this is that no writing styles or techniques are completely exclusive to one another. You can employ the use of two types of writing styles for a project.
You can combine narrative writing style and descriptive writing style while creating a novel. One important tip is to always read what you have written before hitting the publish button. More preferably, read it out loud, because then, it helps you to hear what you’ve written. You are more likely to catch on to the mistakes and errors when you read out aloud.
In today’s era, Your writing abilities can help you land that perfect job that will not only pay your bills but help you to get job satisfaction as well.
The world is going through a transformation where several changes have occurred. With the world going digital and the pandemic still very much a part of our normal today, we have had to ensure that we evolve with the changing dynamics in our professional world. An industry that has not seen a considerable dip in its demand in the writing industry, precisely the content writing industry.
Human beings are amenable to change and a lot of us have turned to write to make a career in it. The key here is to consistently write, and practice. And then to practice some more. Update yourself with the latest developments, read through publications of different genres. Take plenty of notes and write down what you learn when you read.
Explore and work around these writing styles. For someone who loves writing, mastering the different writing styles can help you to open up more avenues for career opportunities in writing. Improve your vocabulary, understand the different nuances of writing, and dazzle your audience.
Over time, you will equip yourself with the writing styles and techniques and get that job you have your heart set on. Perseverance and a never-give-up mantra will be the key to your success.
