What Is My Writing Style?

The following is a list of four different writing styles. Read over each style and its characteristics to determine which is your writing style.

Roller coaster and the local train

• I speed through the pre-writing and first draft.
• My ideas come quickly and I quickly write them down.
• Once my piece is written, I go back and slowly review it.

Shooting from the hip

• I rewrite the entire piece over and over again until I get to the meaning I want to express.
• I may write a piece four or five times.

Building writing one board at a time

• I spend a lot of time freethinking.
• I write slowly and take frequent breaks.
• I think through my ideas before putting them down on paper.

Dressing a skeleton

• I write a bare bones first draft.
• Then I look at different sections in random order and fill out or “dress” them with more details.

Adapted from Campbell, P., & Brokop, F. (1996). STAPLE ’96. Edmonton, Alberta: Grass Roots Press. Copyright held by Literacy Alberta. ISBN for CD ROM 0-9680235-1-7, for handbook 0-9680235-0. Used with permission.

Handout 7.6