A Simple Practice for Refining Your Writing: The Style Sketchbook 

That's the motivation I need to start writing again

I just found your channel today and, as an aspiring poet and creative writer, this advice is as good as gold! I've been really enjoying going through your videos, massive thanks are in order.

I watch a lot of youtube, and many of the people talking about writing have clearly done the requisite reading for good writing, but haven't actually done enough writing to have their own useful observations beyond just an entertaining character. You are NOT one of them. The nounless challenge actually made me gasp. I was spinning around being taken through all the concepts. You are the exact sort of creator who makes the platform a better place! Thank you so much (:

This is an amazing idea, and one that I hope to implement in my College Prep Writing course this year. Last year, we spent the spring quarter experimenting with different styles by following the "Imitating the Masters of Literature" section of the Elements of Style Workbook based on Strunk and White's Elements of Style. But I love the idea of working on style the whole year. A common goal, as expressed by my students, is to "find their style of writing" or to "develop their writing voice," so working on it all year makes sense. We study many rhetorical devices throughout the year, including quite a few from the Quintilian Institute (thank you!), along with syntactical structures (absolute phrases, participial phrases, etc.), and so it makes sense to encourage or require practice using these. I would also love to know, if you wouldn't mind sharing here, what prompts you give your students in general. Thank you so much for your content and inspiration. Your videos are extraordinarily helpful and fun!

yippie! thank you for posting this. i have an english class coming up where i chose a really challenging professor, but now i’m scared out of my mind lol!!

In every example of writing, you were clear and concise, even when you were being very poetic in your prose.

Genuinely inspiring.

Hi Andrew, I wanted to ask if you would like to do a video about what makes a good character that connects with the audience, thank you

Would you concoct a video about the difference between "style" and "voice?"

hey, I appreciate your channel and the way in which you deliver content. Thank you for sharing this activity.

Ooh I’ve been needing to shake up my style, this is going to be excellent practice. Thank you, Andrew!

Great video (as always). Hmm, I suppose style is the thing I'm struggling with the most without really making much effort to improve/grow/change. My issue is that Nabokov's writing is perfect, it is exactly how I want to write. I've read his most famous book at least a 1000 times - I go to sleep each night listening to the audio book (being read by Jeremy irons helps) hoping his style seeps into my consciousness via osmosis. I suppose I'm lucky that I have a perfect target to aim at...but also unlucky that I choose to model one of the greatest masters of the English Language, and a book which is in virtually everyone's top 10 lists. Nothing like setting realistic goals and expectations lol. At the same time I don't want to copy his style because that's futile. Even if I copy it perfectly, it can (and only ever will be) a poor imitation of Nabokov, a cheap knockoff of the real thing. Even if I clone his style flawlessly, it can never be more than supermarket cola. Bah! You have motivated me to get back to finding my voice. I definitely think that finding a style is the hardest thing about writing. There are rules for things like grammar and so on...but no rules for style, you are on your own till you accidentally stumble across it one day. I've been so focused on what I want to sound like that I haven't really given myself a chance to see what my natural voice sounds like. Thank you for giving me something to do on my day off work. Also, you *really* need to get a patreon account - this is the perfect sort of exercise to put behind a paywall where your patreon subscribers could submit their work and get some feedback. I live in the middle of nowhere and I don't have access to a college or other higher learning so a patreon account would be the perfect solution for me. *Thank you*

As always a pleasure ❤ thank you so much

Would love a video with more prompts to use for this exercise!

This is awesome! Thank you!

Thank you; another awesome video

This is so beautiful.

Ur about to blow up sir. I’m here before 20k subs 🔥🔥🔥

Wow Andrew you are so nice in replying to commments! Hows that process for ya? Is it part of your daily life? Do you see it as a writing opportunity? Thanks for sharing the exercise

You passed some time on my country! I'm from Brazil

This video is so RICH you should sell a course based on this alone

I like your videos.

Marvellous idea. Sketchbook, pencils poised for action. After we use the suggestions you have made in this video would it be worth going through, say, the Handlist and trying out each device over the narrative? Is that something the Roman kids would have done?

Hi Andrew! I really like your channel and have been going through the videos. I write just as a hobby, but your videos have helped me look at what I make with a new perspective 😊 They’re well structured and informative while still being entertaining. Does your sassy skull friend back there have a name? I’m not sure if you take questions, but if you do I’d appreciate some advice. Right now I’ve been having this issue where I’ll have the words, ideas, and even rhythm of things clear in my mind, but when I go to write it down the words end up like “John threw the ball.” 😭 Even when I know all the adjectives and actions I want to add, my sentences are flat and boring. I do go back to edit it, but all those pretty words and patterns in my head just go *poof!* Is this how writing usually goes? Is it because I’m a beginner, or am I missing some key step somewhere? I work in a scientific field, so I think if I asked a friend or colleague they would say, “yep, perfect! Clear and to the point.” That type of writing is great for work, but the total opposite of what I want for prose! I don’t know how to break out of it when I write for fun… the descriptions are there in my head, they just won’t come out 😔

Reminds me of Queneau. Though I never really understood what was wrong with his button ;-) i might give it a go. Not sure I'm a fan of your last example though, I hope you got over that...

Where do you teach? I want to be a student there.

nunca ia adivinhar que você já morou no Brasil