Member-only story
FORMAL writing vs. “NATURAL” writing in Fiction, Memoir, and Non-Fiction
Writing styles have always depended on your audience, the people who will read your writing.
A journalist, a CEO, an advertising copywriter, a memoir writer, a TV screenwriter and your mother will always write in the way that communicates best with their audience. Each has a different “voice.”
An article written for the internet will be different from an article written for a newspaper or an academic journal.
What we all learned in high school
As students in high school English class and in collegiate writing courses, we learn to write in “the academic” style. This is probably the first writing style you were taught in school.
This style is formal, precise, and can be stiff and pedantic. You were taught not to write contractions. You were taught to increase your knowledge of and use of a sophisticated vocabulary. You were taught to write complete sentences.
Academic and business writing and formal letters tend to follow this formal style.
Journalism may be another writing style you learned. In this style you learned you could write with more perspective and actually have a point of view.
