Ross Raymond Nunamaker

I’ve always enjoyed writing.  I believe the quality of writing is dependent on the creativity and quality of the thinking that goes into it.

I think a lot, but that doesn’t make me a good writer. It does lead me to consider what I know and what I don’t on the subject.

I took one creative writing course in college, and in my twenties and thirties bought a bunch of books on writing and subscribed to a writers magazine. Not too long ago I got a note commemorating twenty years since I created my writing.com account. I don’t know when I last accessed it.

Despite all that, I’ve mostly written blog posts and essays. At the end of 2025 I embarked on fiction writing once again. I wasn’t sure what I’d write about or in what format, but I started thinking of scenarios and characters. It was a start.

Four months later, I’m invested. I joined a local established writer’s group and a brand new one at my local library. I even completed a 60,000 word first draft of a novel. It is a contemporary retelling of Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent.

I was very excited about my progress. And then I had a realization, or several. I didn’t know what my story was going to become. I knew it was prose, not poetry. It was a novel, but what genre? 

I wasn’t sure. I knew what I read, what I liked, and what I didn’t, but couldn’t say what genre any of them were. What was the plot type? I hadn’t given it any thought. What was the plot? Which character’s story was it? This might have been the most challenging question. In the original it was Verloc, the Secret Agent, in my retelling, I wanted it to be Winnie, the Grit Girl, the title character. Did I change it enough to make this happen? I wasn’t sure.

It turned out I didn’t know as much about my book as I first thought, and before I considered myself a writer, I ought to at least know what I wanted to write. I didn’t, or at least I couldn’t articulate what it was I was writing.

Around this time, it occurred to me that more than what I wanted to write, I probably ought to know how I write. What was my emerging writing style, what did I desire it to become?

In trying to determine this, I learned that a Writing Style could be referred to as Prose Style or Aesthetic. These encompass what I think I was trying to learn about myself, which is the words I choose (Diction), the sentence structure or ordering of words (Syntax), how I ‘talk’ to the reader (Voice), and the ‘feel’ I give to the reader (Texture).

Summary of My Style

My writing is guided by curiosity, empathy, and a deep commitment to understanding what drives human behavior. 

My writing is focused on clarity and emotional sincerity. The diction is to be clean and intentional with rhythmic and reflective syntax. I want to leverage a warm voice and be psychologically attuned to present a consistent texture which is calm, thoughtful, and grounded. Regardless of genre, my underlying authorial presence should remain steady: empathetic, curious, and quietly authoritative.

The result will be what I desire, a unified voice that strives to be accessible and elevated, intellectually rigorous without pretension, emotionally resonant without sentimentality, and consistently oriented toward insight, coherence, and meaningful connection.

Diction

Diction is word choice. Of the many things I learned from Tolkien is that there is a right word for every situation. Being a philologist Tolkien took this to another level. His word choice was not only in current meaning, but in the word’s origin which added depth to his writing.

My own word choice is not as well done as his. I prefer clean, contemporary, and emotionally precise words. I try to remove what is not necessary and reveal what is needed for the reader to understand the character, scene or story.

I want my word choice to feel transparent in the sense that the reader believes anyone can write this until they try and recognize it is not the case.

I want it to become effortlessly readable or quietly elegant, not jarring or loud.

In all my writing, of any type or kind, I want my word choice to always lean toward clarity, sincerity, and emotional groundedness. Even when the register changes, the intentionality stays the same.

Syntax

Syntax is how the words are organized and arranged into sentences, the sentence structure. 

I intentionally vary the length with occasional short, sharp sentences for emphasis, but predominately medium length ones. I like balance and rhythm to create scene appropriate cadence.

My sentences are structured to carry emotional weight without slowing the pace. They’re built for psychological nuance and ensemble dynamics.

Voice

My best description of voice is how the author talks to the reader.

I am empathetic, observant, and quietly authoritative. I try to see people clearly,  respect the reader’s intelligence, and let tension simmer.

I depict emotional nuance, display interpersonal dynamics, and allow for the quiet moments where meaning accumulates.

I believe in bringing the reader into the characters rather than performing for them.

As a result, my voice is sincere, thoughtful, and emotionally aware, speaking with a quiet authority rooted in lived experience.

Texture

The feel of the prose to the reader.

I want the reader to become immersed in my story. It is a slow immersion that uses emotion and warmth for a layering effect.

It is subtle and beneath the surface, where an undercurrent of unease, empathy, and anticipation churn. The calm intensity lingers and sticks with the reader.

Literary Thriller

I decided the correct genre for the type of book or books I want to write is literary thriller. This genre encompasses the depth and style of literature coupled with the suspense and tension of a thriller without the need to rush.

I don’t like stories to be rushed. They need to move, but I want to take in the scenery and atmosphere and consider what is happening as I experience it. This is much like my preference to walk as an activity rather than ride a bike. I can take the same trail, but experience it in two very different ways.

I decided if I was to call myself a literary thriller  writer, I ought to be able to articulate what a literary thriller is and to do that I would need to be able to explain a story.

Plot and Story

A story is a sequence of events told to inform, entertain, or illuminate.

The plot is how the events of the story are presented or recounted to a reader. 

If you write a story, you’ll be expected to tell the plot summary as a means of promoting the book. It mostly answers the question, what is your book about, excepting the themes.

This is critical because depending on who you read and what you believe there are anywhere from 6 to 36 fundamental plots available to any given story, with Christopher Booker’s 7 Basic Plots being very popular.

My literary thriller in a forced choice scenario would best align with Booker’s Tragedy.

It requires an inner flaw that leads to an inevitable downward spiral. It is irreversible loss brought on by the protagonist’s own nature.

It arrives through five stages: anticipation (a desire), dream (things go well), frustration (tension), nightmare (everything comes undone), and downfall (self-inflicted).

These events can be presented in any order and through the perspective of any given character which is the Point of View.

Closing Thoughts

Most everyone can write, but not everyone is a writer. There are many definitions of what makes one a writer. In this day and age, pretty much anyone can say I identify as a writer, therefore I am a writer. 

Anyone can just as easily be a published author by self-publishing. There is no gatekeeper in the self-publishing world.

One of the things I value personally is a love of learning and one of the ways I engage that is through what I call scholarship, which is reading, writing, research, thinking creatively, and presenting.

When I say I’m a writer, it is in the sense that I value and enjoy writing. It is personal. The process of writing allows me to engage in scholarship and express my thoughts and ideas. These things are important to who I am as a person. It is a part of my being.

I’d like to one day be published by a traditional, print publisher. To me, the process validates the work being published. If that were to occur I’d personally be comfortable externally being described as a published author and by extension I’d then be a writer of another kind. It would be an additive external condition to my internal state of writing being a part of my being that I value.