There are a lot of great writers out there. Tolkien, Lewis, Bryan Davis, David Farland, and so on and so forth. They sound like great people to imitate in their writing styles, don't they?
Wrong.
A person's writing style is something that should be completely unique to them. Every time there's a successful author out there, you can bet there's going to be hundreds of imitators saying, "I can write just like so and so."
Of course, learning from these writers is beneficial, but don't imitate their styles. An editor can tell immediately when someone is doing that. What they are looking for is a new voice. YOUR special way of saying things and not a butchered version of someone else's way.
I'm not saying for you to think, "Hey, that means I don't have to listen to feedback. It's my style to write like that."
Some of the worst material is written when the author is in that mindset. I wrote some of my worst writing with that attitude. I'm learning the tools, and I'm using them anyway I like to make a unique style.
I've discovered my writing is generally short and terse. What's y'all's like?
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Finding Your Voice
Posted by Jamin at 7:37 PM
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5 comments:
My writing is generally pathetic.
That's my style :D
-Judi
Ouch. Sounds like you're own worst critic!
I like details and longness, but I also like to have action in that short time. I wanted to imitate writing like Bryan Davis', but in so doing I found my own writing style.
~Elliot
P.S. What does terse mean? (I sincerely apologize for what may appear to be a lack of knowledge in that of which is the wide assorted area of vocabulary.)
It means I get to the point without bogging down in description.
I don't know. My stories usually talk for themselves about style.
Avalon
PS: Check out my latest writing adventure by visiting my blog.
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