One-phrase descriptions of writers

October 26, 2015 10:13 PM

Can a writer's literary style or technique be summed up in one phrase? I am trying to compile such a list of descriptions. An example would be: "Ernest Hemingway: Simple, terse, unadorned, and uses few adjectives." George Bernard Shaw: "Energetic, witty, intellectual, aggressive, comedic, and socially critical." The more technical the description, the better.
posted by omar.a to Writing & Language (2 answers total)

Mod note: Note: this is a sort of borderline deleteable post since it's not entirely clear, but seems to be asking members to provide the work of summarizing writer styles in one sentence, which is not the sort of thing that Ask Metafilter is for (crowd-sourced free labor). On the other hand, answering the question of "can a writer's literary style or technique be summed up in one phrase?" and tips on how to do that and find resources that might help provide material to do that is fine, and folks can contribute helpful info that way.
posted by taz (staff) at 5:12 AM on October 27, 2015

Can a writer's literary style or technique be summed up in one phrase?

Yes, of course, especially if you're willing to use multiple adjectives.

For ideas, there's this page of Words used to describe writing or speech style. Googling adjectives about writing might help you turn up more.
posted by jaguar at 7:13 AM on October 27, 2015 [1 favorite]