Well written! What does that mean? Does it mean that the grammar is correct? And if it means that the grammar is correct, I will ask to which type of grammar the speaker is referring - prescriptive grammar or descriptive grammar. The first is grammar that tells us how we should speak. Descriptive grammar tells us how people actually speak.
I have written books and articles in an academic style. I have penned novels and short stories in a looser and more creative style. Academic writing is somewhat formulaic. For example, the language tends to be unambiguous. The whole piece tends to be well structured. This means structured paragraphs with clear topic sentences. The language tends to be concise and formal. Academic writing addresses complex issues that require high-order thinking skills to comprehend, this means: critical, reflective, logical, and creative thinking. Citing sources in the body of your paper and providing a list of references as either footnotes or endnotes is a very important aspect of academic writing.
Problems may arise when this set of standards is used to judge your creative piece. At school, your piece of fiction (the best thing since "War and Peace") might get comments like, "Not to the point" or "No topic sentence." Ignored or damned are your words that sing, your word combinations or your digressions!
This does not mean that these different styles cannot be used in the same piece. All great fiction writers write with a particular voice and style. Voice is what you "hear" as you read. The voice can be informal and conversational, and it can be formal and written in a formal style. Style refers to a variety of techniques and stylistic choices that the writer uses. For example: choice of words, sentence length, word contractions and so on.
There's a lot of rubbish talked about writing and writers. A kind of mythology's developed that tells us writing's a difficult job and only for those who are gifted in some way. Real writing doesn't include the sort of scribbling that I do. No, that's only the hobby that brings awkward smiles and nods from strangers. They understand that I'm not a real writer. Real writers don't use invented words like "botox" or abbreviations like "he's." My stranger only reads "real" writers, those who've been in some way gifted and, therefore, worth the time spent on them. The result of all this is that many beginner writers try too hard. They try to get it right. Thy try to sound clever - the tortured artist looking to save his/her soul. What a load of Botox this can be! I have already used a number of different styles in this particular blog. Now, I'm writing in a less formal way than the one I started in. It's fun. Don't let your efforts appear on the page as soldiers on parade. Picking words is like picking strawberries and they are much easier to consume.
Just today, I had a conversation on FB with a friend of mine concerning "buffoons" in Westminster and the alleged Russian involvement in the Salisbury poisoning. Here is his reply.
"Aye Laddie, yer right, dead right! Alf, the infamous TOUGH of the TRACK fae Dundee, inspired noble hearts to combat brainwashing of the UK masses. Today, the Battle continues up north, "Scots Wha Hae, 'n aw that!", resounds aw o'er Scotland!
Indeed, this morning the Scottish Government legislated all UK/US nukes be transferred to Surbiton, in the Royal Borough of Kingston, London, for added protection against nasty foreigners.
Noo, happily, aw they folks in Surbiton've nae need tae worry, 'cos wi' aw they nice bombs they're as safe as hooses fae loonies fae the likes o' Syria n Russia."
Well, mate - more power to your elbow and lang may yer lums reak!
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