Cheever wrote many short stories in what was referred to as the ‘New Yorker style’. Why might a writer have a style? What is your writing style and why?

John Cheever developed a distinct writing style in the 1950's, which has now coined the term "cheeveresque". I bet he had no idea that his writing style would coin a term.

I believe that a writer's style is one of the most important factors of writing. Recently, I have been assigned as a music reviewer on a social website, and in order to write my first review, a lot of research was needed. It became obvious that the successful, entertaining reviews were different stylistically. And by that, I mean through voice, sentence structure, and vocabulary. These factors contribute to a writing style, which someone can’t choose. It’s throwing a writer’s personality on paper – you can’t change it. You can alter it to suit who you’re writing for, but a writer’s style is their soul, their personality, their very being.

My style? That’s difficult to answer. Simply because, if you asked yourself ‘what is my personality like?’ you’d struggle. Others will notice it more than you, because that’s human nature. I know I write humorously. I like writing in quite a personal tone, also, because it sounds like I’m telling a story – which, I suppose, I am. What’s the best style? Everyone has to discover our own way by writing. Writing teaches writing, and no one can discover your own secret.