26 Developing your style T here's the story and there's how you tell the story. The lat- ter is your style. Some writers forget that the purpose of style is to enhance the experience for the reader, not to call attention to the cleverness of the author. While style should be a by-product of what you want to say, there may be some approaches that will help you develop yours. Keep your emotions in check It is said that sometimes Dickens wept when he gave a reading of the death of Little Nell, but perhaps he wasn't crying when he wrote it. Anton Chekhov suggested that authors keep their emo- tions in check: