Prior to coming to WRD, I was a game dev major at CDM — prose was given a minuscule focus, and it was only brought up in classes related to pitch presentations, technical design documents, game design documents, and in-game instructions. Prose was essentially interchangeable with concision and clarity. Style was disregarded. My first class at WRD was Style for Writers, and ever since my experience there, the topic of elegance and style has always been a point of interest — what is style exactly? Certainly, there are writers whose prose just “feels” right, and that there’s some sort of elegance, wit to them. Is it their voice? But voice, and style too, can be deconstructed, analyzed. Just like art, style and elegance are subjective, that much is certain. But how is appreciation for prose developed? Is the literature a person reads, or is it innate, uncontrollable? Is there a type of prose that everyone — or at the very least, a large majority of people — like, or is that limited to just respect, rather than deep-rooted admiration? Does the type of prose individuals like vary based on their age and culture, or is it largely the same after a person reaches a certain age? Furthermore, can a prose be bad? If a small group of people, perhaps three or four individuals enjoy it, could it still be considered good prose?
