Check out MY new BLOG!!

Staying True To Your Style Of Writing

June 6th , 2008

by Marsha Maung

Somewhere along the third year of my freelance writing career, I discovered that I was not a funny writer. I don’t have the knack for writing slapstick stuff but this doesn’t make me an unsuccessful freelance writer. I was determined as hell to be a good writer earning a decent income from my writing jobs. Then along the same journey, a couple of years later, I discovered that I can’t write serious either.

That’s when I hit identity crisis as a freelance writer. I had no problems with who I was as Marsha Maung but more like, what kind of writer am I? What kind of writing comes naturally to me? So, if you are facing the same problem, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Sometimes, it takes a lot of soul-searching, screaming, digging and head banging to find that.

To make things worse, clients are not the most understanding lot in the world. Since they’ve paid you for your freelance writing services, you are expected to deliver whatever they want, when they want and in the ‘style’ that they can connect with or desire. The tricky part as a freelance writer is to find out what kind of style the client wants and adopt that.

Did I just mention previously that I had identity crisis as a freelance writer? I did? Good. Because it sucked the life out of me when the clients nitpicked.

So, what I did was to come up with a list of styles that I think I can work and gave it to the client and went something like this.

• Funny style (I wasn’t very good at this but I’m not telling, you’re not telling, who’s to know?)
• Serious professional stuff
• Bombastic style of writing that will blow the linguist in us (if there’s one) away
• Personal style (my favorite – love nothing more than to get personal with the readers)
• Short and concise style of writing (to the point)

But the funny thing is this…every time I gave them the list above, they don’t know what it is that they want….they can’t decide! Well, not ALL OF THEM but a measurable majority, I suppose. This freelance writer sits there with her face in her hands.

And you know what I do? I write the way I want to write it or write the stuff that they want in the way that I think will suit their audiences best and it usually works!

They would return to me and say, “You know what? That’s exactly how I want it to be written!”

And the style I use if often the very personal style of writing, in your face, no holds barred, no beating around the bush kind.

Take a look at the list above and take a peek at the last point. Yes, the personal style very nearly always took the cake and it works out best for me because that’s how I write best! But every freelance writer has his or her own writing style.

If you’re bummed out not knowing what exactly it is that the client wants, you should just write the stuff in whatever way you think will work best for THEIR client and in YOUR STYLE OF WRITING.

A woman’s instinct may be right most of the time but I think a writer’s personal intuition comes in a close second. Am I lucky to have both or what? :-)

Marsha Maung is a Malaysian-based freelance writer who ghost writes articles, blogs, newsletters and web content for her clients. Marsha's just released her first fiction novel 'Imperfect' http://marshamaung.com/books/imperfect.html - a dramatic short story about the turmultous relationship between a mother and her daughter because of her daughter's deformity. For more info on Marsha, visit her website at http://www.marshamaung.com. Marsha actively and passionately contributes to http://www.contentmagician.com as well.