Every Book I’ve Read Appears in My Writing

Looking for a way to hone your writing skills? Try drawing inspiration from your favorite authors’ writing.

To some degree, you’re probably already doing this. Our perception of what makes good writing often is based on who we consider to be a good writer. If you idolize Hemingway, you’ll probably think good writing means short, almost staccato sentences.

There’s certainly value in reading and consciously drawing inspiration from the authors you like. After all, they’re probably among the best in their genre, so they must be doing something right (pun intended).

Having said this, you don’t want to imitate a loved author’s style. Instead, respond to his style, to his content. By copying someone else’s style and voice, you deny your own. You physically and mentally aren’t that author, so at best you only can create a facsimile of his approach to storytelling. The story will ring false to the reader.

By responding to a favorite author’s style and content, however, you acknowledge his influence while remaining true to your own voice. As you present the story from your worldview, you’ve peeled away a level of artificiality (the using of another writer’s voice to tell your story). You then become part of an ongoing commentary of all that ever has been written on that topic.

• Read a short story or chapter of a book by your favorite author. Make a list of at least five things that you like most about the author’s writing. Try to incorporate those techniques or styles into your writing.

• Modeling the stories (or chapters) of a favorite author forces you to think about how a story is structured and the characters developed, making writing of your own stories easier later on. Select a favorite short story or chapter of only 5-10 pages and follow its format sentence-by-sentence as writing your own.

• If you really want to learn the craft of writing from your favorite authors, read their inspirations. You typically can find them through his/her personal website or a Wikipedia article. You’ll be surprised how their best stories don’t copy those inspirations, which instead were a catalyst for greater creativity.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 350 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

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