Writing "style" and "sound"

So far, I’m enjoying Lukeman’s The First Five Pages. It almost makes me feel like I’m in the process of becoming an editor because the more I get into the book the more I am able to identity errors in writing. The notions of sound in chapter 3 and style in chapter 5 caught my attention particularly. As Lukeman points out, I agree that “stylistic errors are among the easiest to recognize and the hardest to fix”(66). Being an English major, I am used to professors writing on the margins of my papers saying something like “this paragraph is awkward,” “tighten your prose,” or “your argument isn’t strong enough.” They are all pointing to the problems in my writing style.

In page 67, Lukeman asks, “what’s more important: your writing or the story?” This reminded me of my college application essay. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to write about but most importantly, I wanted the essay to be written extremely well: to sound intelligent. When my friend read my essay, she said that the writing was good but it could be more personal and to the point. This was a rude awakening for me. The essay was about my experiences but when I read it, it almost sounded like I was talking about someone else. Thanks to my friend, I rewrote the whole thing with intentions not to sound intelligent but to get my point across. I tried to express my ideas more directly, putting importance in the story.

I think writing style goes hand in hand with sound. In chapter 3, Lukeman advices writers that “even if your sentence sounds great, always ask yourself if its meaning is clear for the reader”(47). Taking my college essay again as an example, my initial draft sounded smart but clearly its meaning wasn’t clear for my friend. I think that a prose “sounds” right when one employs the most effective way of getting a point across to the readers.