Pamela’s Prompt: Write like your favorite author.
According to the website www.nationaltoday.com , there’s a special day for authors on Nov. 1 each year. It’s called National Author’s Day and it ties in perfectly to today’s writing prompt.
I have amassed quite a few books on the craft of writing throughout the years, and one of my favorites is Fiction Writing Master Class: Emulating the Work of Great Novelists to Master the Fundamentals of Craft by William Cane. In his book, Cane analyzes the writing style of 21 famous novelists including Charles Dickens (Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol), Ian Fleming (the James Bond series) and Edith Wharton (Ethan Frome, The Age of Innocence).
In his introduction, Cane writes: “You cannot become a terrific writer just—poof!—out of thin air. It takes something preexisting, some structural savvy, some foundation in technique, some underlying sense of the possibilities of language before you can strip off your topcoat and tap dance across the page like Fred Astaire.”
The classical educational device of imitation, Cane proposes, can be beneficial to a beginning writer. “Like a painter absorbing the elements of style necessary for composition, tint, and tone, you’ll learn the fundamentals of your craft—including how to master the essentials of prose rhythm, character portrayal, and story development, among many other topics—so that you can advance in skill and ability and learn from those who have gone before, just as they learned from the greats who preceded them.”
So, choose a paragraph from a novel by your favorite author, analyze the writing style and research why readers like you love the author’s work. Is it because he uses highly descriptive language? Does she keep you in suspense and eagerly turning pages late into the night? Does he make you cry within the first chapter? Is she an expert at evoking her faith with only a few words?
Whatever it is that makes you love their writing, jot it down with a few text examples. Then, imitate that style with a paragraph of your own writing. How can you add more descriptive language? How can you include more suspense? Continue the exercise until you can produce a paragraph that imitates the author’s style. Then, keep that style in the back of your mind as you sit down to write your next chapter or even your next word.
You may not be the next Dickens or Fleming or Wharton overnight, but by learning the classical educational device of imitation, you’ll be well on your way to becoming the writer you want to be.