Style Mapping

 The introduction of a work of literature sets the standard for the rest of the work, showing if the author is eloquent and poetic or blunt and caustic. In Neil Gaiman's Stardust, Gaiman writes poetically with colloquial language, using words that are neither dissonant nor melodious, in order to describe the setting. In contrast, Cormac McCarthy's figurative-language-heavy introduction to Blood Meridian balances both an earthy grittiness and an elevated vocabulary as McCarthy describes the surroundings. By far the simplest of all, Walker Lamond's Rules for My Unborn Son has a no-nonsense and almost journalistic approach to writing. The introductions to these three works reflect the subject matter that follows; for instance, Lamond's Rules is simply a book of short, one-sentence rules for his son, whereas McCarthy's Blood Meridian is a Western epic. Each accomplishes its purpose effectively by using different types of language.