Jason writes: How has working on the Halo books changed your writing style? I read Signal to Noise, which struck with me as hard sci-fi while Halo is more space opera. I know that, to an extent, writing is writing–and I suppose I’ll find out for myself how your style has evolved when Mortal Coils comes out–but I just wondered what your perspective was.

On the rare occasion I read my older stuff it strikes me how much my writing style has changed–but at the same time they also read like classic Nylund stories (what many people call “voice”).

Unless it’s an ongoing series, style should change from piece to piece. I can’t imagine writing a Halo book the same way I would a contemporary fantasy like Dry Water or even a hard science fiction novel like Signal to Noise. Likewise, if I were to write a detective novel, it better not sound like Fall of Reach. It just wouldn’t fit.

Writers must change their diction, pacing, and characterization techniques to suit the project they are working on.

Voice however is different. It’s what’s hardwired into my brain–things that will never change in my writing…such as my flagrant overuse of dashes and ellipses.

When you pick up a Heinlein book no matter what decade he wrote it or what it’s about, you know it was written by Robert A. Heinlein. Or if you read a graphic novel by Alan Moore or Warren Ellis–regardless of the genre—you can likewise tell who’s voice is telling the story.

And to a large extent–that’s why you dig a particular author’s work.