: Re: How to keep consistency of style through a piece of writing? This is something I've noticed in all of my writings, whether it's an essay, a diary, a fiction or anything else. I tend to start

@Gretchen741

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A lot of the greats did something that is not readily encouraged today: emulation. I did it, and it helped tremendously. In fact, I believe it was the single greatest tool in helping me be a writer. Take your favorite writers--hopefully they're stylists---and copy your favorite passages. Longhand, on a computer or typewriter--whatever. Copy them word-for-word. Do this without thinking of it as work. Copy sentences, paragraphs, entire chapters. I've written hundreds of pages of Journey to the End of the Night. Henry Miller, William S. Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson---copy any and all. Copy anything that you like, or even dislike, to get a feel for how it works on the page.

There's something in the brain that is triggered when this happens, you get close to the writing, and, apropos of nothing, one day you will recognize styles in a whole new way, and, more important, switch to them seamlessly.

This is, of course, if you're dedicated. I'm sorry I don't have an alternative: I know no other way to come to art. But to me, this was one of the most important elements of writing. As they say, style is the man.

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