Cheng's strong suit is the slice-of-life essay, a form typically classified as "light" literature and long given short shrift by Taiwan's literary community. Where most writers tend to be fixated on producing highbrow prose, Cheng came to writing from the pop-music world and she recognizes that books exist for their readers. As a consequence, her work shows a preference for plain, accessible prose over elaborate, overwrought language.
鄭華娟所擅長的生活散文，通常被歸類為「輕文學」，其價值長期以來被台灣文壇低估，而從流行樂手出發的鄭華娟卻深諳「作品因為讀者而存在」的創作意義，有別於一般作家對於精練文字的執著，鄭華娟在書寫策略上反而越來越捨棄雕琢，更往親眾的方向走。