Style

But what’s a writer’s “style”?
Style is an expression of the interest you take in the making of every sentence.
It emerges, almost without intent, from your engagement with each sentence.
It’s the discoveries you make in the making of the prose itself.

We assume that style is self-expression.
It can be, but only in this sense:
It’s the fusion of your command of language and your commitment to your own intent,
Even as your intent shifts under the weight and opportunity
Of the discoveries you make as you work,
Discoveries that are linguistic, conceptual, structural, imaginative.

This doesn’t sound like a useful or conventional definition of style
Or much like self-expression.
But it does clarify an important thought:
“Style” shouldn’t linger in your awareness.
You don’t need to think about style.

V. Klinkenborg, Several Short Sentences about Writing, 84–85