I know exactly what you are talking about. After completing my thriller, I started writing a humorous murder mystery. Just a totally different style required. And now I am working on both that and another thriller with my co-author, so that makes it even more challenging. My method of getting the words out is fairly mechanical (although I hope my style isn’t) so what works for me to switch styles is writing a little bit of garbage in a style the opposite of the tendency I want to avoid. Which isn’t necessarily the same as the style I am shooting for, it’s more like a palate cleanser for what I am trying to shake. For instance, if you are trying to shorten your sentences, try to write a paragraph that flows and holds together but where no sentence is longer than 7 words. Maybe no verbs in some sentences. If you read the first chapter of Lee Child’s “The Killing Floor” you’ll see a perfect example of the opposite of the Victorian style that you could try to imitate to clear things out. Just one random thought on this.

Cheers,

Ed Parrot
co-author of the podcast novel, New World Orders