Don't Fight Your Nature

I am not an elegant writer.

Back when I was young and my skull was still full of unformed mush, I stuffed it with millions of words from Midwestern newspapers. Mitch Albom. Mike Royko. Huge doses of sports sections, daily.

As a consequence, I write in a plain-spoken manner, like I'm sitting across from you at a diner, sipping black coffee that sat too long in the pot. Sometimes I try to write with elegance, like I'm placing poetry on parchment paper.

That always fails.

As comic book legend Brian Michael Bendis said:

Write true. Write honest.

My best writing leans into a folksy, straightforward style. Anything else comes off murky and confusing. If I try to get elegant, or shock you, or make you mad, it never works.

Explore the borders of your writing voice, sure. But don't wander too far into false territory. You and your reader will both get lost.