Imitating styles of writing

cobsie

Does anyone else find themselves unconsciously imitating the narrative voice of whatever author they are reading, when working on their own stuff?

If I'm reading Alice Munro, I want to make all my stories lyrical and psychologically acute. I find myself determined to exercise more control over my prose, not waste a word...

When I read Junot Diaz, I want to feel the grit of the urban jungle under my words...that's it! I think - slang and smarts, the city and the heat...

If it's Raymond Carver, I think - no,no, the story is the thing. Just be simple and tell the story! Stop pricking around with fancy words, just show what the characters are doing...

Is it just me?

pickarooney

Not as such, but I've sometimes found myself reading a book and thinking "I'd love to try something like that."

I don't really read books any more though.

cobsie

Why don't you read any more? Time?

pickarooney

Yep. It's hard to get even a half hour of uninterrupted reading time and I don't have any books that would make me go the bother of spending three months reading them piecemeal

Blush_01

I couldn't cope with that. I prefer reading to sleep, and I love sleep.

pickarooney

Sleep? I don't get to do any of that either

The Mad Hatter

cobsie wrote: »

Does anyone else find themselves unconsciously imitating the narrative voice of whatever author they are reading, when working on their own stuff?

If I'm reading Alice Munro, I want to make all my stories lyrical and psychologically acute. I find myself determined to exercise more control over my prose, not waste a word...

When I read Junot Diaz, I want to feel the grit of the urban jungle under my words...that's it! I think - slang and smarts, the city and the heat...

If it's Raymond Carver, I think - no,no, the story is the thing. Just be simple and tell the story! Stop pricking around with fancy words, just show what the characters are doing...

Is it just me?

I do the same thing. If I'm reading Alan Moore, my prose turns dark and heavy and rhythmic; if I'm reading Haruki Murakami it tends to be more abstract and observational.

But I find that there are little points of style that hang over into something that I think is a little bit mine. If there's no such thing as originality, then our styles are just a combination of the styles of everyone we've read.

Incidentally, were you reading Junot Diaz when you wrote Snow Day?

cobsie

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

Incidentally, were you reading Junot Diaz when you wrote Snow Day?

No - I read both Drown and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao recently and was sick with jealousy at their brilliance, the boldness of his style.

I was reading something much milder and more mainstream during Snow Day: One Day by David Nicholls.

cobsie

Blush_01 wrote: »

I couldn't cope with that. I prefer reading to sleep, and I love sleep.

I read an interview with Roddy Doyle recently where he said he could live without having another book to write, but not without having a book to read.