Influence has an important role in your writing. As you understand and work with different styles and influences, you’ll learn how to find your own voice.
This is part four of a 10-part series on style and voice. Writers in the Story Course and the Story Intensive can determine their writing style by taking the Style Diagnosis Quiz. This is a tool to help you highlight elements of style in your own work and point you to authors who may inspire you right now.
Read the rest of the Style Diagnosis series here (remaining parts coming soon):
— Bookish — Deeper Than You Think — Fearless — Grounded Fantasist (below) —
Are you a Grounded Fantasist*?
You’re not that interested in how your work is labeled — it’s neither science fiction nor realism, and that’s kind of the point.
You live in a world of ideas and imaginings, and coming up with story ideas is usually not a problem for you. In your writing, you put effort into making sure your imagery becomes true in a way that confounds what people might think they know about literature.
Overall, you are entertained by your own ideas, and you want to transmit that thrill to your reader.
Read the following books to learn about other Grounded Fantasist writers:
- Zsuzsi Gartner, Better Living Through Plastic Explosives
- Matthew J. Trafford, The Divinity Gene
- Aimee Bender, The Girl in the Flammable Skirt
- Jonathan Lethem, Men and Cartoons
- Eden Robinson, Son Of a Trickster
- Toni Morrison, Beloved
- Akwaeke Emezi, Freshwater
- Drew Hayden Taylor, Motorcycles & Sweetgrass
Please leave your suggestions for other Grounded Fantasist writers in the comments below.
xo,
*special thanks to Zsuzsi Gartner for coining the term for this genre-bending style!
Photo credit (top): Christopher Campbell on Unsplash
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