: You've already read a lot, which is a good thing. I suspect what you're missing at this point is reading to learn: taking something that you love which is well-written, and tearing it apart

@Cugini967

Vote Up Vote Down

You've already read a lot, which is a good thing. I suspect what you're missing at this point is reading to learn: taking something that you love which is well-written, and tearing it apart to see how it works.

One way to do this is to find a book or story that you admire not just for its characters and plot, but specifically for its prose style. Read a chapter or so to get it fresh in your mind, then go and write something of your own imitating the other author's style as closely as possible. You really want to do everything you can to pass off your work as the work of the other author. When you're done, go back and compare your writing with the other, and look at what the differences are and how you can adapt your style to better match theirs.

The purpose of this exercise is not actually to copy the style of another author. Rather, it's to gain a deep, inside understanding of how that author does what they do, how they knit their sentences together in that amazing way that they have. After doing this a few times, you can go back to your real writing with an appreciation of that author's techniques and tricks, and hopefully apply them in service of your own style.

(0)

Login to post a comment!