The Genesis of a Writing Style

The Genesis of a Writing Style

A childhood friend and fellow author today, tossed out a question on Facebook the other day. The question was about different writing styles and creativity, and which worked best. It was directed toward me, and a group of fellow writers.  I had ended my reply with the statement that I consider myself a story teller as much as an author. 

That closing statement had followed my previous comments regarding my writing style. A style that involves, no formal pre-planning, plot development, character planning, and definitely no outline of the story. Instead I let the characters, or a single character tell the story, allowing me to be the conduit through which the story comes to life. I have a phrase that I use when asked how I write. "When it flows, I let it flow.

I consider it a gift as much as a style, and a gift for which, I finally have determined its genesis.  I don't remember exactly how old my daughter was when she began to ask me to tell her a bedtime story. It was always the same routine, her mother would read her a story, and then it was my turn to tell her a story.  It was easy to begin with, for she seemed to pick a different animal or object every night. The challenge arose, when she picked an animal that I had already told a story about. I began to tell the same story I had told earlier, but she stopped me and told me she wanted a new story.

Unlike a lot of bedtime story experiences, this was not a passing fancy, as it continued well into her pre-teen years. Not always on an every night basis as she got older, but often enough that it allowed me to develop my gift.  A gift, which would later experience, both a timely and wonderful reawakening, by returning, in a updated form, at a time when I most needed it in my life. For when it returned, it came back as the gift to write a story, on the spot so to speak, inspired only by a word in my head, or an image, as my inspiration.

So please bear with me, as I take a moment to say "Thank You, Sheri Lynn, for it was you, who brought my gift to life."

Richard Nurse

**A note to the readers**

This is a classic example of why I prefer to write a story totally unplanned.  This article was essentially planned and thought out in advance, yet it took me as long to write this four hundred word pieces as it would to write 4000 words of a story that is just flowing out of me.