Hi Joelle, thanks for agreeing to a written conversation like this.
For those who don’t know, Joelle, as a wordsmith, will be discussing how style in story-telling works. I’ll be adding thoughts on how his points are relevant for visual storytelling. We hope to come to a place where we can all learn something and hopefully better glorify the Author who wrote us into being.
Introduction
Taste. It is possibly one of the strangest things of our world. We put something in our mouth and know what it is by using little mushrooms on the surface of our tongue. We feel the crunch, smell the sweetness, and the explosion of miniature experiences we call flavour. But we get to choose what we put in our mouth, most of the time. Our metaphorical mushrooms (the ones of experience—that bump into down-town dustbin scenes, or experience hammering nails from the top wrung of a wobbly ladder) have far less choice. But both of them can be grown to acquire more tastes: the scholar loves the sea of words in his textbooks, the mountaineer his windy heights, and the accountant his red and black numbers, because, like the sushi enthusiast, or the chocoholic, or the wine collector, sometime they were fed it and acquired the taste. As each of us scrounges through the daily buffet of scenes, what do we make of it? Is the Creator of a grasshopper-eating prophet, Mont Blanc, and mathematical functions present in the design of your peanut butter sandwich, the faces blurring buy on the freeway, or that nasty knot in your laces that went the wrong way? Our world is filled with startling tastes and, I suspect, that includes, in particular, the mundane ones.
I’m looking forward to this conversation and discovering the significance of style in storytelling, word choice, and our own lives, and seeing where we land up.
Taste in Story
Joelle, how does taste (style) in story work? What are the different types of story tastes? How do you pick a flavour for the story you are writing? How do characters, scenes, items, and conditions influence the taste?
The idea of taste in story can probably be summed up in one word: genre. Different genres have different expected flavors. This is why most people gravitate towards certain genres over others: they like the taste of fantasy over historical fiction, or contemporary comedy over horror. It’s like a favorite food. Obviously, there are countless different combinations of flavors within the general genres, which is why you have things like dark fantasy and romcoms. But the principal remains.
I tend to find that writers gravitate towards certain tastes or genres as much as readers do. I personally like the more dramatic, epic flavor of high fantasy, especially when combined with some more lighthearted, comedic elements in just the right places. This is why I write epic fantasy and tend to read epic fantasy (when I’m not trying to expand my reading horizons, that is XD).
Interestingly enough, visual artists also represent flavor in story very well by using proportions, colors, lighting, etc. Just go to Pinterest and look up “epic fantasy aesthetic” or “cottagecore romance aesthetic” and you’ll see what I mean. All the pictures have the same feel to them. I’m sure Abian can expand more on that. (; But that’s ultimately what we as novelists are trying to obtain: putting pictures in your mind that have a common aesthetic to them through description, character, setting, etc. This is what gives you flavor in the story.
***
Style and taste colour what one is saying. I used to think that styling was a type of creative plaster you put on at the end. Or maybe paint on a sculpture. As if you could keep the underlying story or structure the same but only change the wrapping. But the style is far more integral; defining what you put in, what you leave out; how you show it, and when. In a sense certain things can’t be expressed because of the style. The horror of war would exceed the scope of a young reader picture book, as would elves historical fiction. And just so in art, surrealism makes it difficult to show the humble beauty of the home, while pointillism would be badly positioned for a technical rendering (though there are those strange artists who have certainly tried). So maybe in a broader sense, if you went down deeper, there would only be two tastes: the tragedy and the comedy; the story of chaotic, random meaninglessness, or the tale between right and wrong, where the light ultimately wins the darkness.
What are we leaving our or putting in? How do we show it and when? This is maybe the greatest difference in style: not between ink or oils, not the labels separating book shelves, but the taste of what is being said with the strokes and print.
The Pallet of Language
Taste goes all the way down to the sentence level. Down there they call it voice. How do you apply taste to the voice of your writing? What makes a scene flavourful? Does it have to be grand to be interesting, or do simple, ‘normal’ details make it just as vibrant?
There are a couple different kinds of voice: character voice and your voice. Your voice is the unique style of narration you bring to the table. It can be more flowery and descriptive, with a tendency towards long sentences and sweeping metaphor (J.R.R. Tolkein); or it can be punchier and action oriented, with a tendency towards sentence fragments and built-up drama (Suzanne Collins). There are comedic voices (Andrew Peterson) (and types of comedic voices within that category), playful voices (Louisa May Alcott), voices that focus on the external (C.S. Lewis) compared to voices that focus on the internal (Kara Swanson), voices that are super balanced (N.D. Wilson), all sorts of things. The trick is to learn how to retain your own unique blend of voice while also being able to use all the types to set the flavor of certain scenes and moments well.
On the other hand, character voice is the various flairs in speech that you can use to differentiate between individual characters inside the same story during dialogue. This can include accents, favorite phrases, how much (or how little) they speak, the way they view things, their type of humor, etc. Often their backstory will bleed into their voice through the things they notice and how they respond to certain comments.
The way these two come together is in first-person point-of-views – and it’s especially obvious when you have multiple first-person POVs in one story. One person may be more paranoid and in-tune with their senses, so their description of a dance may sound more like this:
“I fingered my wineglass, the glass smooth, too smooth against my skin. I tried not to think about how the scarlet wine sloshing inside reminded me of blood. Blood, everywhere. People hunting me. Not safe, never safe-
“Taking a breath to steady my thoughts, I looked out across the dancers. The music stalked past my ears, almost drowned out by the laughter of the dancers and tap, tap, tapping of their feet on the polished floor. Any one of them could be a hunter. That ominous man dancing with his lady friend – did he glance my way? Was that slight bump on his hip a hidden weapon? Had he been watching me this whole time? Or the lady who kept her hand behind her dress, who constantly dodged gentlemen who would ask her to dance – was she simply biding her time to get close enough to slip poison into my glass? Was she not dancing because she was trying not to draw attention to herself? Or was it a dagger she concealed behind her skirts?
“I glanced down at my wine again, acid burning in my throat. It could be poisoned. My fingers tightened on the cup, pressing against the stem so hard it was a wonder it didn’t break right then. I took a breath, forcing myself to set it down on a nearby table with a clink of glass on iron. I could use the table as a weapon. It was small enough to hoist but large enough to deal damage.”
Now imagine we put another character in his exact position, just a character with a different background. Maybe she’s a socially awkward artist with poetic leanings.
“I held my wineglass up to the light, admiring the way the wine glowed scarlet, casting its hues through the crystal-esque glass to dance across my face like crimson sunlight. I should paint this later. I tried to capture the lighting in my head, imagining the glass sitting on an outdoor table instead with bluebells beyond to contrast with the crimson--
“’Might I have this dance?’”
“I emerged from my daydreaming at the question and lowered my wineglass to an appropriate position. What dance was it? I hadn’t been paying attention. The man’s hazel eyes sparkled with warmth, like honey from the comb, that instantly put me at ease. I set my wineglass on the table next to me and placed my hand in his. What did one say to that question? Oh, right. ‘I’d be honored.’
“He led me out to the dance floor, the music dipping and swelling around us like the ocean tides, leading the dancers through the fluid steps that I, thankfully, remembered just in time. The colors swirling around me gleamed like the jewels in a dragon’s hoard, sparking inspiration for a poem. Perhaps I’d have to write--
“’Enjoying yourself, m’lady?’
“The normal question once again caught me daydreaming.”
Do you see the difference? Exact same situation, very different takes on the entire atmosphere, which creates a whole other taste to the entire scene.
***
I love the example, Joelle. One can feel the difference.
In art and comics simplification and accenting play a big role in stylising. Simplifying makes the scenery clearer, but less believable, and wilder accentuation allows for stronger characterisation, but loses tangibility as characters become abnormally proportioned. (There’s a zone between realism and the cartoon called the Uncanny Valley. You don’t want to end up there.)
Truth has so many facets, and his range of tastes are so wide. I remember stumbling on one of your blog posts on fantasy inspiration from creation. It featured bazar places and creatures one would never guess existed. Lizards squirting blood from their eyes to the mathematical consistency of flower petals, the simplicity of Jewish flat bread, to the spices and colours of the east. Each element is an expression of the Truth in a way that another cannot be. The same great Genre, but each a unique expression of a part of its style.
We should learn to love the styles within truth and each creator should express the island of taste given him within the sea of God’s goodness. Inkers should ink, painters paint, and writers word within their joys so that they as a whole can (though never to the infinite depths) express the Truth and his strange and wide ranging tastes.
Flavour in Life
How does God’s flavourness show up in the story he is writing (with our lives)? Every age looses and gains tastes. Which of God’s tastes do we have and which should we acquire?
Of all the flavors in our lives, God is the richest. Not only are His flavors extensive and varied, but each flavor goes so deep we can never taste it to the fullest. One of the best parts of humanity is that He made us varied as well – each of us displays some of the virtues, or flavors, of God that others may lack, and lack virtues that others may possess. Thus, we can see different flavors throughout different people’s stories. Some people seem to naturally gravitate towards honesty, for instance, but may struggle with kindness; whereas other people may be incredibly kind (and find it natural and easy to be so) but may struggle with being totally honest. God has both these attributes to their fullest and best degree. And when we seek His help in gaining the flavors he wants us to have and in defeating the tastes that go against Him, we find that He teaches us about Himself even as He guides us in gaining virtues and losing vices.
There are some tastes of God that we can never quite reach. His perfection is one of the obvious ones, coupled with His holiness. The Bible commands us to “be holy, for [God is] holy” (1 Peter 1:16). Yet we cannot attain holiness. How are we supposed to gain this flavor if it is impossible?
The easy answer? Nothing is impossible with God. Including obtaining holiness. This doesn’t mean that you will reach perfection – or the acquisition of all the tastes of God while possessing no vices – on this earth. It simply means that God has made a way for that commandment to be fulfilled through His Son, Jesus Christ. Christ is the epitome of holiness and perfection, and when you become His child, you are placed under His atoning blood and your un-holiness and imperfections are covered by His holiness and perfection.
To bring it back to writing and artistry, God once again owns the mastery. If you want to learn how to create like the ultimate Creator, how to weave good, Godly flavors into your craft, how to make your audience crave the Maker Himself... your best bet is to ask Him for tips. God isn’t impersonal. He’s there to teach and guide you through not just your moral situations, but everyday life - including your art. Ask him to teach you His ways and reveal his flavor to you throughout your life. The more you taste of God, the more that richness of His character will flow through you and into the things you create.
That being said, it goes to the flip side as well. The more you taste the things of this world, the darkness and depravity, the more that will come out in your art. Beware what you place on your tongue (in your being). What comes in comes out. (Matthew 12:33-35)
So make sure the flavors you are savoring are good, Godly ones that will point both you and your audience to the master Creator. Read your Bible and find the tastes within, then apply that to your own creation. Lose yourself in the complete perfection and holiness of God and all of His flavors. And never stop craving His taste in your life.
“Oh taste and see that the LORD is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”
-Psalm 34:8 (ESV)
***
Joelle, it reminds me of growing up. At first we love sweets and the party juice that somehow always lands up making half of your face sticky. Then we grow and learn to love bread and wine, sushi and paintings by dead people. They are the same tastes, matured. The joy contained in a wineglass is the same as that packaged in a plastic cup with suns and moons on it; the taste is only deeper and wider. How we enjoy it and for who’s glory makes all the difference. The boy who does not overeat on jellies, but enjoys them with thankful tolerance is exactly the man who will learn to enjoy the depths of a well-roasted steak or the artistry of sourdough. Same great genre, deeper and wider taste. And so, within the truth, we are free (and should) be searching for the depths of its riches. In all of life. He is there in the graffitied street and the ever-present task of weeding, his artistry extends down to the crunchy bits in your peanut butter sandwich, down into the mundane things in life and out the other side to the Christ’s locust-eating cousin, the incredible mathematical intricacy of proving that one is greater than zero, and the shape of heaven’s gas fields. Remember when you catch yourself thinking that life is normal and mundane, that God has put as much design effort into how your lace knot works (one bunny ear, two bunny ear…) as he has into the gas cycles of the sun and the tropical beauty of the Bahamas.
Conclusion
The Lord is good. And so are his ways. Learn to love what he loves and taste as he tastes. All of it. When God creates a story you don’t have a taste for, don’t flinch at it—don’t skip over. Learn to love what he loves and taste as he tastes. In all of life. Down to thanking God for laces and eyelids and the invention of glass. Try to understand and seek insight. Enjoy the metaphorical sweets in their time; learn not to gorge—but grow into loving flat bread or the raw-fish-topped sticky rice with the same enthusiasm. God made tastes beyond our understanding and all the pieces we don’t comprehend are special to him for a reason. Truth’s table groans under the weight of the banquet’s variety, if only we would learn to reach beyond what we are comfortable downing. And, yes. Never stop craving Christ’s taste in your life; especially in the areas you flinch at. Learn to love what he loves and taste as he tastes.
More From Joelle
Joelle writes wildly on her blog, The Penmaiden. You're welcome to read more there. Here is her blog showing strange creatures and landscapes that look like they should come out of a novel.
Cosmic Chaos Sample
If comics are your thing, or meaningful stories, I have set up a sample of my upcoming comic Cosmic Chaos for my readers to view.
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