History SignatureStyle / Literature

* William Faulkner [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible hates you doesn't like you hates you you never had a sister Dalton Ames Dalton Ames Dalton Ames Dalton Ames Dalton Ames My father I have committed incest]]\\
[[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible sister. Stream of consciousness, odd spacing]]\\
[[TrueArtIsAngsty hate you]]\\
[[DeepSouth south.]]\\
[[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible i dont hate it]]\\
[[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory fish]]\\
[[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible but he hates you]]
** He also has a reputation for writing confusingly long sentence often creating long tracts without any punctuation

** She also likes to end chapters (and sometimes books) with a WhamLine.

* Lorrie Moore is fond of writing stories about lonely women or women with few people in their lives going through some life-defining crisis or another.

* Ryohgo Narita (of ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'' and ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' fame) is particularly fond of huge casts of [[DysfunctionJunction unstable]] characters. All his stories also take place within [[FantasyKitchenSink the same]] [[TheVerse universe]].

* Creator/MichaelCrichton books inevitably share the same plot: "Scientist discovers or creates something. Protagonist warns the scientist that he hasn't considered the consequences. Discovery and/or creation [[GoneHorriblyWrong Goes Horribly Wrong]]. Protagonist saves the day. Protagonist says "I told you so" and scientist maybe or maybe not learns his lesson that ScienceIsBad, or at least misapplied. The end." Also, the "going horribly wrong" part is usually not because of a single glaring error, but several smaller mistakes or accidents that compound one another. If it's mentioned casually that something isn't optimal, but it shouldn't be an issue because of all the other security precautions ... trust us, it ''will'' turn out to be an issue.

* Creator/DanBrown, a renowned ConspiracyThriller author, conspicuously and regularly re-uses plot elements and [[http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000844.html opening paragraphs]]. His novels contain a huge amount of historical comments that [[DanBrowned may or may not be accurate]]. As for the actual ''writing style'', Brown is fond of having multiple PlotThreads and shifting between them every 5 to 10 pages (his chapters are really short), usually with a WhatCliffhanger accompanying every shift. It either creates awesome {{thriller}} suspense or gets boring after the third page. He also likes to employ TheManBehindTheMan, sometimes several layers deep. [[spoiler: And the BigBad always turns out to be someone the hero thought he could trust.]]

* Creator/IanFleming, creator of ''Literature/JamesBond'' often includes expositions on locations he had visited, and especially foods and drink which he was himself fond of, and has a stunning amount of ProductPlacement in every book. Expect the phrase "the gun spoke its word" to appear rather frequently too. The attitudes of the characters are also highly recognisable once one gets used to them. And ''any'' woman's breasts will be described as "[[BuxomIsBetter proud and firm]]", especially if they're the Bond girl. Except maybe Bond's elderly Scottish caretaker.

* Ryohgo Narita (of ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' and ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' fame) is particularly fond of huge casts of [[DysfunctionJunction unstable]] characters. All his stories also take place within [[FantasyKitchenSink the same]] [[TheVerse universe]].

* Creator/JamesAMichener writes books where almost every plot follows a family that lives in a particular place through the generations, the title of the book simply being the setting.

* James Michener writes books where almost every plot follows a family that lives in a particular place through the generations, the title of the book simply being the setting.

* Creator/JKRowling seems to like every trope related to [[ChekhovsGun Chekov’s Gun]]. If a character, object, or place is mentioned in passing in an early books, it's almost guaranteed to show up later, usually in a role of vital importance. She also seems to like killing off characters just to show that death is harsh. She also seems fond of semicolons. Creator/StephenKing once commented snarkily that she "never met an adverb she didn't like."

* [[Creator/IainBanks Iain M. Banks]]'s science fiction novels, both in Literature/TheCulture and the stand-alone ones, often feature a lot of snarky humor, especially at cocktail parties or something similar. There will sometimes be a WackyWaysideTribe scene with some other culture or species which tends to overlap with another feature, a scene of outright {{Gorn}} (e.g. the [[BloodyMurder way]] the protagonist of ''Literature/ConsiderPhlebas'' stops cannibals from eating him). The novel may or may not end with the [[KillEmAll deaths of the cast]] and [[AMillionIsAStatistic many other unfortunate people]].

* Literature/{{Homer}} used elaborate similes that go on for several lines, often described of feasts, and used recurring lines and phrases, like "wine-dark sea", or, after gruesome, anatomically-detailed descriptions of battlefield slayings "And the darkness swirled about his eyes."
** This makes his work [[MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels difficult]] [[BlindIdiotTranslation as]] [[PrecisionFStrike fuck]] [[TranslationTrainWreck to]] [[NintendoHard translate.]]
** Also, Homeric epithets.
** Expect extremely long descriptions of the character's bodies (especially their hair and feet), armour, weapons, and even their actions.
** Injuries (mostly sword cuts) are often described relative to how close they are to someone's nipple.

* Creator/DanBrown, a renowned ConspiracyThriller author, conspicuously and regularly re-uses plot elements and [[http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000844.html opening paragraphs]]. His novels contain a huge amount of facts that [[DanBrowned may or may not be accurate]]. As for the actual ''writing style'', Brown is fond of having multiple PlotThreads and shifting between them every 5 to 10 pages (his chapters are really short), usually with a WhatCliffhanger accompanying every shift. It either creates awesome {{thriller}} suspense or gets boring after the third page. He also likes to employ TheManBehindTheMan, sometimes several layers deep. [[spoiler: And the BigBad always turns out to be someone the hero thought he could trust.]]

* Creator/MattStover is a real-life martial artist and will happily write [[SuperDetailedFightNarration intensely detailed fight scenes dozens of pages long]]. Other trademarks of his include [[SophisticatedAsHell erudite narration that drops into goofy terminology]] (like the abrupt appearance of the word "bazillion" during a serious scene in ''Literature/{{Shatterpoint}}''), {{Bond One Liner}}s and {{Deadpan Snarker}}s, badasses of every stripe, people dropping dead ''all over the place'', and never allowing the triumph of despair even when that seems the only option left. His primary plot-making method is to grind his main character relentlessly down to their very marrow, take away everything about them that they thought was important, drive them to the brink of oblivion, then have them re-evaluate themselves, back up, ''stand'' up and show everyone what they're ''really'' made of. Typically, it's whoopass. However, while his novelisation of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' follows the formula to the letter, the ''spirit'' is [[DeconstructedTrope given a cruel twist]]: Anakin's fate is a life of ''absolutely hellish torture'' because when stripped of his delusions all he becomes - is himself.

* Creator/DianeDuane's ''Trek'' novels are full of StarfishAliens with [[TheUnpronounceable unpronounceable names]], amazingly detailed and ''justified'' TechnoBabble, gleefully subverted [[PlanetOfHats Planets of Hats]], and Doctor [=McCoy=] being awesome.
** Apart from the [=McCoy=] thing, that's also a fair description of her Creator/YoungWizards series.
** There's a distinct tendency, especially in early books, to have the sympathetic non-human character(s) make a HeroicSacrifice at the climax of the story, then bring them back for a curtain call (either through BizarreAlienBiology or just [[DiedHappilyEverAfter seeing them in Heaven]]) to avert a DownerEnding.

** He's also big on LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and glowing jewels that drive the plot.

* James Clavell liked to write large novels set in or around Asia, featuring LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and intricate, interwoven plots from both the protagonist's and antagonist's sides of the stories. [[Literature/AsianSaga His books]] are usually divided into shorter "books" or chapters that encompass a period of time (from three years in ''King Rat'' to ten days in ''Noble House''). Also, at least one main character will die at the end of each of his books (except for ''King Rat'', where the death was merely figurative, rather than literal).

** Most of his works include LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, usually spread across the landscape, most of whom never encounter each other. These works will also include large heaping helpfuls of AsYouKnow conversations and {{Internal Monologue}}s where they character reminds him/herself of how they got where they are now, since it's generally been several chapters since we last saw that character.

* Ryohgo Narita (of ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' and ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' fame) is particularly fond of [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters huge casts]] of [[DysfunctionJunction unstable]] characters. All his stories also take place within [[FantasyKitchenSink the same]] [[TheVerse universe]].

** He makes nearly every protagonist a [[CanonSue moral paragon]] who never does anything wrong and never fails at anything.

** ''Miranda and Caliban'' is a PerspectiveFlip of Theatre/TheTempest, and befitting a Shakespeare tale, takes full advantage of AlternateCharacterInterpretation to take StarCrossedLovers to its natural heart-wrenching conclusion.

* Brian Jacques
** He seems to love {{Wacky Wayside Tribe}}s, [[PropheciesRhymeAllTheTime rhyming prophecies]], intense description of food, and making damn sure none of his heroes ever die. This last element has only slid in over time; while the earlier Creator/{{Redwall}} books were willing to let heroes die (''Martin the Warrior'' and ''Outcast of Redwall'' most notably), the later ones have the "hero shield" at full power.

* Creator/GeneWolfe writes all of his stories in first person. With all the detail he adds, it gets really easy to trust the narrator. Don't.

** Another, subtler trope in Gaiman's work is the theme of false hospitality, typically shown between female characters: the Other Mother in ''Literature/{{Coraline}}'' is the most obvious example, while others include the Dark Queen in ''Film/MirrorMask'' (which is thematically very similiar to ''Coraline'') the inn scene in ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'', and the characters of Media and [[VaginaDentata Bilquis]] in ''Literature/AmericanGods''.

** The aforementioned overt masculinity also carries over to his homosexual characters; see ''Now the Cats with Jewelled Claws'' and ''A Perfect Analysis Given by a Parrot''. (Williams himself was gay.)

* Creator/TamoraPierce has a mildly amusing habit of describing a character's clothing in detail. This lead to one famous scene where Alanna of Tortall, hardened warrior, is talking to a friend about someone else's poor fashion choices while changing. "Can you ''imagine''?"
** Well, her heroines, for the most part, do tend to (at least try) represent strong, yet still feminine women

*** This is true of Zahn's non-Star Wars novels as well. The Conqueror Trilogy is a good example of this; neither side of the conflict is bad, and both sides include the sort of multiple factions that you'd actually find in a society at war.

* Creator/SofiaProkofieva: There is always a kindhearted plucky girl (child or adult) who has PuppyLove with a nice boy if she’s a child (in a StandardFantasySetting, he is often a servant or page) or a NiceGuy love interest, usually a DistressedDude, if she’s an adult. If there are any siblings, they will either be twins with alliterative names or PracticallyDifferentGenerations. All the heroes have bright, clear eyes. Expect a NonHumanSidekick (at least one, usually more); NiceMice are especially frequent. The villain has piercing eyes and employs a soft-spoken EvilChancellor. If the villain is a magician, they are defeated with the help of their own magical artefact and/or via HolyBurnsEvil. If the villain is a king, he is overthrown by an AngryMob, and the queen, if she exists, barely does anything. If the villainess is a queen, she is a LadyOfBlackMagic whose actual domain only consists of a single (admittedly very large) castle.

** Whoever is included on the novel's token romance(s) is innocent.
** Characters accusing themselves of being the murderer in order to protect the person they know or believe to be the real killer. Subverted in [[spoiler: Murder in the Vicarage, where both Lawrence Redding and Anne Protheroe frame themselves for the murder of Colonel Protheroe and admit, in turn, to being responsible (in an unusual ploy to actually shift blame from both of them)]]

---->''(StreamOfConsciousness)''

* Creator/KurtVonnegut: lots of free-association and repetition, nonstop [[ShootTheShaggyDog Shooting the Shaggy Dog]], {{Crapsack World}}s with the bleakness turned up to 11, [[AnachronicOrder nonlinear storytelling]], and the heaviest [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped anvils]] he can lift.

* Creator/SofiaProkofieva: There is always a kindhearted plucky girl (child or adult) who has PuppyLove with a nice boy if she’s a child (in a StandardFantasySetting, he is often a servant or page) or a NiceGuy love interest, usually a DistressedDude, if she’s an adult. If there are any siblings, they will either be twins with alliterative names or PracticallyDifferentGenerations. All the heroes have bright, clear eyes. Expect a NonHumanSidekick (at least one, usually more); NiceMice are especially frequent. The villain has piercing eyes and employs a soft-spoken EvilChancellor. If the villain is a magician, they are defeated with the help of their own magical artefact and/or via HolyBurnsEvil. If the villain is a king (and it’s always a he, the queen, if she exists, barely does anything), he is overthrown by an AngryMob.