Checklist: Elements of Author’s Style
1. Sentence Structure / Are the sentences long or short?Example:
Do they contain many subordinate clauses, or are they often fragments?
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Are there any digressions or interruptions?
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Is the word-order straightforward or unconventionally crafted?
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2. Pacing / Is the writing heavily descriptive, with emphasis on setting and atmosphere, or does it focus on action and plot movement?
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3. Diction / Is the writing tight and efficient, or elaborate and long-winded?
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4. Vocabulary / Are the words simple or fancy?
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How can you describe his/her word choices: technical/scientific, flowery, colloquial, aristocratic, philosophical, punning, or obscure?
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5. Figures of speech / Does the author use a lot of figurative language?
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6. Use of Dialogue / How often does dialogue tell the story instead of narration?
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Do we see whole conversations or just fragments?
Does the conversation use slang or is it formal?
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Does it appear natural or contrived?
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Does the dialogue require inference?
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7. Point of View / Does the author typically use first, second, or third person point-of-view?
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8. Character development (Piggy, Ralph, Jack) / How did the author introduce the characters (exposition)?
How are the main characters changing/evolving?
What is their function in the story/what do they represent?
What kinds of characters are they? (Full/well-rounded, stock characters,stereotypes, caricatures)
9. Tone / What is the author’s attitude (sarcastic, aggressive, wistful, pessimistic,philosophically detached, hopeful, ironic, bitter, or melancholy)?
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10. Word Color, Word Sound / How much does the language call attention to or depend on the quality of its sound, e.g. through alliteration, assonance, consonance, dissonance, rhythm, unusual word choice, and so on?
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11. Paragraph / Chapter Structure / Are paragraphs very short, or are they enormous blocks running across many pages?
Are the chapters short or long?
How many chapters are there?
Are they organized in a normal fashion or is there an unusual organizational pattern?
How do the paragraph and chapter structures impact the story?
12. Time Sequencing / Chronology / How has the author organized the chronology of events?
13. Experimentation in Language / Are there any unusual techniques used, such as stream-of-consciousness, mixing styles and genres, unusual layout on the page, breaking rules of grammar and form, odd narrative perspectivesand so on?
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