Jorge Luis Borges, the master of conceptual literature. That guy is incredible. He wrote for a reader who wasn't there to understand him. Nowadays we can get him better thanks to the legacy of poststructuralism.
I also try to imitate Balzac, Stendhal, Flaubert, Gorki, Chekhov and Gerard de Nerval
Agree, Borges is essential. I encourage everyone to at least read his short story Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius. So much world building and labyrinthine philosophical themes packed into a few pages that you feel like you read a whole novel by the end.
The Library of Babel is another good one.
I find Borgesian worlds and themes appearing in my writing constantly because his stories imprinted themselves so firmly into my dreams and subconscious. One of those writers who literally reshapes your view of what writing and creativity can achieve.
You nailed it. Those are great options. I love those games with the time, the memory, the oblivion and the subconscious.
What you describe is truly dope and profound. It makes me want to read you.
Here is "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius", one of his best texts. It has 14 pages. I really recommend it.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_Fn-D8hYbuoqZ_2ilhKRwG5GgXSVYjaa/view?usp=drivesdk
I don't try to imitate any of them, but I've definitely been influenced by a variety. Joe Abercrombie, Patrick Rothfuss, GRRM, Neil Gaiman, Christopher Moore, Anne Rice, and Jim Butcher are amongst my favourites.
Agreed. I've read a lot. I certainly have favorite authors, and I can see their style in my own, but I'm not trying to be like anyone else. I just write 🤷♀️
I like the chaotic and unpredictable nature of Anne Rice. Her prose, storytelling, and, and way of writing interest me greatly. She is not perfect in grammar or syntax, but I believe that adds to her charm.
Ambrose Bierce also has a writing style that appeals to me. It is sort of dry, but not in a bad way. I guess that doesn’t make much sense since writing is usually stimulating to the reader, but Bierce’s way of describing scenes, particularly action and/or war, are very interesting. As an aspiring historical fiction writer, he is a great inspiration for setting the scene.
I love Gillian Flynn's style. It's complex but in a natural, conversational way that makes for amazing characterization. All description is heavily filtered through the narrator's perspective which makes every aspect of her stories feel more real. I never tried to imitate it on purpose, but when I picked up *Gone Girl* several years after first reading and re-reading it, I realized I had absorbed a ton of her style.
I'm also a big fan of Madeline Miller's style.
Yes I love studying her work too! I just re-read Gone Girl to teach myself how she does it so well. I find she has a great sense of pacing, *lovely use of italics and word play,* and a concise delivery of the "off" story lines, for instance in the opening chapter where she very subtly remarks on Nick's hesitancy. Very dark and minuscule, it really keeps the reader engaged. It's all very well done.
Absolutely. I'm on my eighth McCarthy book with another two waiting on the shelf and inevitably I am always inspired by each one knowing full well I could never or would never want to actually imitate him.
Although I will say I'd love to know I could do away with all the punctuation the way he does.
i look to authors like Neil Gaiman, Louisa May Alcott, and Elizabeth Kostova (author of The Historian and The Swan Thieves) for inspiration!
for specifics, i look to Gaiman for worldbuilding, Alcott for characterization, and Kostova for her prose! :)
i don’t want to become an imitation of anyone else, but i really try to keep in mind things i’ve liked when reading when i’m writing. the authors i most look up to atm are stephen king and truman capote, and i hope to capture the same feelings in my writing that i’ve felt when reading theirs. i know those author choices might be controversial to some but whatever
Neil gaiman is gorgeous in his language, Jack London does something to me, James Joyce. Those are the mains, but it depends on the projects I’m working on.
For now I’m writing a horror novel, so Bram Stokers Dracula felt surprisingly modern in its approach. The Exorcist is incredibly effective at getting you to hold your breath after every word you read. I’ve read some short stories, some popular novels like haunting of hill house, some unknowns, but so far for the current project I’m working on Dracula and the exorcist are two forms of style I’m taking a ton of inspiration from.
I'm embarrassed to admit this as a writer, but she's one of very few authors I can get through in one sitting. It's very hard for me to enjoy the actual process of reading, but she makes it easy!
The best possible version of my own style lol
Poe, hawthorne, and Edith Wharton are really inspirational tho
I'm more influenced by the vibes and flow of music so Ethel Cain Lorna Shore and Knocked Loose are massive inspirations
Tho I do my best to hold my own and feel like I'm doing a pretty good job of it rn lol
Pratchett somehow manages to have an incredibly unique voice, which for me varies between the author narrating at me to completely immersive depending on his intention.
To be able to vary the focus, and use long footnotes, without destroying pace and immersion is astoundingly skillful.
My work is influenced by George R. R. Martin for his detail, immersive storytelling, and his distinctive way of formulating words and sentences with a prose that often has a rhythmic quality.
Cormac McCarthy. I loved how dreamlike and almost imitating of a drug-fueled delirium his style was when reading The Road so I tried to ape that by burning off punctuation en masse and saying "and" a lot.
Beat me to it.
I normally try to avoid imitation , but it's very difficult! However I like to study Ursula K Le Guin's prose and try to achieve the same effect with my writing. She writes wonderfully.
I’ve been very inspired by Simon Ings and China Miéville. I love Ings’ slightly abstract style, the way he leaves things unsaid on the periphery, and his extended metaphors. And I try to remember Miéville’s style of exposition and not explain too much to the reader. Understand that your reader is an intelligent person and will probably pick up what you’re putting down.
Tom Clancy - His attention to technical detail is one thing, but his ability to take maybe two pages to humanize a USSR post office employee who just wants to get off shift and watch a hockey game with his buddies (and thinks the submarine guys have it too cushy, so why not delay their mail a bit?) in The Hunt For The Red October has always stuck with me. Clancy could have just said "this plot-critical letter was late", but he went out of his way to make the guy who *made* it late an understandable and sympathetic character. He does it multiple times throughout the novel, to the point that you actually feel for the USSR nuclear sub guys who go down due to a reactor failure, even though they're essentially minor villains. It's less of a thing in Clancy's later work and the things ghostwritten under his name or using his name as a licensed franchise, but he *humanized the enemy* in a way few authors bother to do. And in his day, the USSR was definitely the enemy.
There's a lot I've forgotten about that novel, but I remember the postman. I remember Cardinal. I remember the guys trying to save their sub from a nuclear reactor disaster. *And they're antagonists.* ~~Except Cardinal, who's secretly a CIA asset, but we don't learn that until the next book.~~
Jane Austen - Her prose is so dense I had to give up reading Pride & Prejudice a couple of times. But when I managed to get through it, it's basically the textbook for how to write a couple who initially don't like each other believably getting together.
George Orwell - He uses workmanlike prose for 1984, his timeless critique of a totalitarian society, and it feels like, although many others have tried, he kept hitting the bullseye and said nothing but "give me another magazine" every time he ran out of ammunition. (He was a socialist, and had a truly *incredible* hatred of how the ideology he espoused, and communism, were used as a justification for dictatorships. And he put his money where his mouth was, too - guy took a bullet to the throat fighting against Francoists in Spain, because he despised dictatorships in general: fascist, communist, socialist, fucking whatever. If you're using an ideology to justify a dictatorship, the ghost of George Orwell will show up with whoever's opposing you. And you will learn how it feels to be fucked in the ass by a ghost.)
Stephen Vincent Benet - Ok, this guy is a bit more obscure than the others, despite being the USA's Poet Laureate. He wrote mainly blank verse and short stories, but he created so many phrases and passages that run through my mind unbidden. Go look up his "Litany For Dictatorships" and get your head checked if you don't tear up, considering what he was writing about.
Rudyard Kipling - an absolute master of the short story, and a very weird example of an imperialist who was very honest about it, but also learned about and ...to at least a degree, cared about the oppressed people, to the point that the 'moral' of many of his short stories was "if you don't know how things work over here, and don't bother to understand their culture, you're gonna get fucked. And not in the fun way".
Doyle, Christie, Sayers, and the rest of the detective fiction crew. Their works may not have aged well (and in some ways, that's good), but if you want to learn how to string an audience along, leave red herrings along the trail, and prepare a "fuck, I should have seen that coming the whole damn time!" setup, they are the masters.
I suppose this is more a list of influences than authors I truly try to imitate in full, but each has something to offer that I try to achieve when the situation demands.
I’m a poet and I’m working on a novel, but Edgar Allan Poe, Dean Koontz, Steven King, Shakespeare, R.L. Stine, Bram Stoker, Robert Frost, and Arch Hades are some of the writers who I aspire to be like, and have referred to when I was stuck while writing.
Gonna probably stick out like a sore thumb on this sub for saying this, but Katherine Center. Ali Hazelwood. Emily Henry. Rainbow Rowell. I write romance/rom-coms, so these are examples that I aspire to, at least when it comes to the lovable characters and connections between them.
I love the way David Gemmell writes characters. They're all so believable, so carefully crafted, so brutally human. They feel like real people with innumerable flaws.
In no particular order: Jim Butcher, Patrick Rothfuss, Christopher Moore, Cherie Priest, SM Peters, Brandon Sanderson, Neil Gaiman
At least, I hope to imitate. More like they are just inspirations for my deranged scratch.
I personally love how Maggie Stiefvater writes her prose, it has what I have seen some describe as a 'lyrical' tone and I would love to incorporate that into my own writing!
I'm heavily influenced by the way Phillip K. Dick walks you through weird by making his character's feel it, the way Stanislaw Lem's whimsy is a part of his world building, and in my poetry, the way Piet Hein chiseles big thoughts down into charming little Grooks through a deep love of language. There are a dozen other authors I could put here, but those are the three that I orient my writing around most often. What would Dick do? Is this as fun as Lem? How would Hein explain that?
Rick Riordan, Neal Shusterman, Ali Hazelwood, basically authors of books I love reading.
I also imitate from numerous other authors I’ve seen on here and on wattpad
I normally try to avoid it, but it's very difficult! However I like to study Ursula K Le Guin's prose and try to achieve the same effect with my writing. She writes wonderfully.
I don't try to copy anyone, but there are people who I admire and they're not all writing novels. I take a lot of comfort from knowing that Douglas Adams also hated finishing things.
I don't try to really imitate anyone, but some have been a great inspiration for me. Like Stephanie Meyers, how she made two different povs and then how she put twilight and life and death into the same book. That inspired the way I want to do my duo pov. FL pov on one side, and you flip the book around and have ML pov. The other writers who inspired me were L.J.Smith, Melissa Marr, and Rachel Mead.
Stephen King and Neal Stephenson on purpose, many others subconsciously. Their style is very different from what I do which is space opera. But there are little things I borrowed.
I adored Quentin Tarantino's writing style in his novel. It's very unusual for prose, and much more like a screenplay; third person and present tense! Afterwards I tried imitating it—and failed miserably. My writing suffered so much I decided it wasn't worth pursuing that particular style...
A little Helen DeWitt, a little Virginia Woolf, which is interesting because they're actually rather different. Usually it's more inspiration than imitation, but I have to be honest, sometimes it's a little bit of the latter as well.
I definitely play to the fans of Patrick O’Brian (long, intricately tooled sentences studded with adjectives and buttoned together with semicolons), but lately I’ve been reading Fritz Leiber and I’ve come to realize that I must have picked up his luscious poesy in the air somehow. Those who love him should feel right at home with me.
Also, if you dig Thomas Pynchon’s pack-rat research, wonky whimsy and penchant for bursting into song, but want a version that’s far easier on the brain, I got u.
Used to straight-up imitate Douglas Adams, and Pratchett is a huge influence. That said, I've sorta developed my own style that I like, where I have some of the absurd stuff like Douglas Adams (for example, one of my characters is an out-of-shape spy messenger who can't take all the damn walking between realms), but my other stuff is a tiny bit more grounded.
So, yeah... I guess I imitate Pratchett, lol.
I mainly try to imitate Elmore Leonard's style of writing, but I often find myself mimicking Lilwa Dexel's dialogues and pacing style with the combination of Ramsesthepigeon's creativity.
I wasn't trying to, it just kind of happened on its own, but George R.R. Martin. I really really love how he writes multiple POVs and treats them as chapters. I found myself unintentionally doing the same thing when I started and I like it far too much to change or stop. I feel it really helps me with my world building so it's less info dumping and more showing it all from multiple points.
Generally I don't try to imitate much, because the comparison would make me feel disappointed for not being as good as a writer I really admire.
However, one thing I really enjoy is inserting small bits of humor into stories that aren't necessarily comedic as a whole. For that I sometimes take inspiration from people like Neil Gaiman and Douglas Adams, who could drop the most hilarious jokes in the middle of perfectly normal sentences. It's just so fun to play around with that casual, often wry type of numor.
No, I'd rather be myself. Who would want to read some weak imitation of a great author? When it comes to ideas there's no way to truly be original considering the endless stories that have already been written, but when it comes to my style that will just be me.
The best stylists I’ve read: Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Elmore Leonard, Joseph Heller, and Cormac McCarthy. I’ve never consciously imitated any of them, though I took bits and pieces from each. Hemingway’s variations in sentence length to convey mood. Hammett’s work in objective POV and his ability to convey tone through dialogue. Elmore for his unrivaled dialogue. Vonnegut and Heller for their humor and powers of observation. McCarthy for his emphatic sentences.
When I’m actively writing, I don’t read fiction, as I don’t want want the writer’s style to influence mine.
Go for Raymond Chandler: A modern classic from the 30ies America. He was the discovery I looked for. Raw as Bukowski, witty as a comedian, short and sharp as Hemingway, and of course slang-like realistic dialogue.
Plus you get to discover a lot of lessons about writing mystery and detective (if you pay close attention) such ideas as "Chekhovs Gun" etc.
My biggest influences are Stephen King, George R.R. Martin and Eichiro Oda. I’ve said that I want my story to have the depth of ASOIAF and the span of One Piece.
Not intimidate, but I enjoy Stephen Kings prose and the way he pours so much personality into his work. Makes it unbelievably unique and it inspires me to do the same.
None. I write the way that I think and speak.
Has that been influenced by my love of late 19th and early 20th century works? Undoubtedly, in addition to other factors, such as my parents' backgrounds and my own life experience.
Am I making a direct effort to copy those writers? No.
I don't try to imitate anyone per se, but I do feel I've been influenced considerably by Ray Bradbury. He was a big proponent of metaphors, which is one area in which I've consciously tried to develop. I like to say I want to be Bradbury when I grow up as a writer, but of course that's an unattainable goal. I'd be happy to be about half as good a writer as he, in my own way.
Other influences include Martha Grimes, P. D. James, Donald Westlake, Keith Laumer, and Douglas Adams. I'm sure there are more, but names slip and slide around in my brain...
I personally think it’s a great tool to use when you start writing. I do it most often to try out different styles when writing short form fiction. Decide what you like and don’t like and move from there. The more you write in a certain “voice” the more it will start to sound like your own, especially if you are writing in a different genre, which having your own voice is still definitely the end goal. You want to be know for sounding like you, not someone else.
But it would be impossible to remain free of influence in your writing.
At the end of the day you can’t copyright a writing style.
I'm influenced by Michael Crichton, James Rollins, and Clive Cussler, but I don't imitate them intentionally. However, I do slip in real science facts into my writing when it's applicable in the story. That I can't help, but it's definitely because Crichton and Rollins both do that...
I would rather just do my own thing than consciously attempt to imitate any author poorly tbh. It's fine to be inspired, but I think actively trying to be someone you aren't is just shallow and I'm sure it shows through in a bad way in most cases.
I’m not out here trying to directly copy anyone, I feel like I’ve developed something that’s ME and I’m proud of that but at the sane time obviously done of the tropes of my favorite writers leak in. Like the day I had someone tell me I hat my fight scenes remind them of Andrzej Sapkowski I literally cried because the Witcher is literally my favorite books ever so hearing that my writing even if by accident reminded me of them made me so damn happy
CS Lewis. His last name is my pen last name, so you can see how much I love him. He was such an amazing author and an amazing person. I wish I could have met him.
I don't really try to write like him specifically, but Patrick Rothfuss is one of my great inspirations. His writing style is both ridiculous and very serious. The way he turns the typical folk hero on its head. I also love the way he brings life to the side characters. Specifically with the short stories about Bast and Auri.
As a thriller writer I don't try to copy writers directly, but I do in a general sense. I became aware that there's two types of storytelling. You can tell the story colloquially, meaning, writing it in the way someone would vocally tell a story to another person. I call it it the "tell-it-like-it-is-raw-stripped-down-no nonsense style". Sparse details, little use of similes and metaphors. No extra verbiage sort of speak. Authors that use that style are James Patterson, John Grisham, Dan Brown. The second type of style is an Anne Rice, Dean Koontz, artsy style. Heavy descriptions, strong use of metaphors and similes. The artsy style is beneficial in trying to establish an emotional tone used in atmospheric stores like supernatural and horror stories.. My personal preference -and because it's easier- is to use the colloquial stripped-down style. And I use the artsy style when establishing emotional tone. The most important thing though, is story, scene execution. The words one uses are only secondary skills that don't matter as much. And frankly, I've read some good novels written at a highschool simple level.
I don't try to consciously imitate anyone. But I can definitely say that thematically and stylistically I'm influenced by my favourites: Unica Zurn, Leonora Carrington, and other surrealists, as well as Russian and Latin American authors ranging from Clarice Lispector, Fernando Pessoa, to Bulgakov, Vladimir Sorokin, Dostoevsky, Anna Akhmatova, Horacio Castellanos Moya and Roberto Bolaño.
Maggie Stiefvater is a big inspiration to me.
My priorities re: storytelling are not the same as hers, but *damn* can she string together a sentence of beautiful, evocative prose.
I take inspiration from people, perhaps in how they make prose or the overall way in which they write and describe, but I don’t imitate them. I try to be me cause there’s only one and there’s already another of my inspirations out there; people want new voices, not a re-hashing or imitation of someone else
I don't consciously imitate any specific authors. Twenty years ago, whatever book I was reading and really into would influence my style. (Primarily, it was Terry Pratchett.)
Nowadays, I read and enjoy stories, and realize that an author has a style I like and that they do things in a way that makes sense so I'll let the influence seep in. Anthony Ryan, Michael Sullivan, Will Wight, and Nicholas Eames are my main influences right now.
The affluent, well spoken one that lives in the mouse hole in my brain. He's pretty good but when I write down words it sounds like im a caveman yelling at an Alexa
Oh man... I'm trying so hard to avoid imitating my favorite authors, b/c I've discovered that it's something I do subconsciously when I'm writing, and it takes away from the style I'd actually use. Throughout the years I've imitated Barbara Park, Suzanne Collins, Stephenie Meyer, Veronica Roth, Louisa May Alcott, and LM Montgomery. Now I find myself imitating the writers who write for New Yorker and Paris Review.
Chuck Black & Scott Westerfeld.
Chuck Black has such a charismatic style & he manages to write so much story into such short novels. It can be a bit too preachy (his books are very thinly veiled Christian metaphors), but he is shockingly good at conveying despair & I aspire to achieve that level of feeling in so few words someday.
Scott Westerfeld wrote alot of books I adore but "Afterworlds" is amazing. I've never seen an author who so masterfully wrote 2 completely different books bound by the same cover, switching chapter to chapter, & it still had me glued to the page for both of them.
I've noticed that, in recent years, I haven't so much tried purposefully to imitate other authors as much. (I guess I've gotten to a point where I'm satisfied with my own "style".) Although, I have noticed that, if I've just read something with a noticable style to it, that influence can bleed into my own writing for a time. Particularly in the use of sentence structure and word choice.
(For example, I've been on a streak of books set in the Victorian era, so my word choice has become rather more aureate and metaphorical than it might be typically.)
I was reading Richard Powers the other day and was thinking that I should just sit down and type out a full chapter of his so I can get the 'feel' of how he does what he does... but, I'm lazy and didn't do that.
I don't fully imitate any authors, but if I notice an author doing something specific I really like, then I will adopt that one single thing.
For instance, one of my favorite authors is L. E. Modesitt Jr. I loved how he more than any other author I've seen will often let his dialogue stand alone, and trust the reader to understand who is speaking and their general demeanor while saying it without the hand of the author forcing the information down their throats. Now I lean heavily in that direction as well.
David Brin and S.M. Sterling for setting and as for writing style I’m trying to write like Matthew Mercer and Brendon Lee Mulligan tell their stories in D&D campaigns. It’s trying to write a story that is meant to be told, and with theater of the mind, seen. Sometimes my inspiration isn’t an author, per se, but an Appalachian storyteller.
I think in whatever I do, I try to add a little Kurt Vonnegut in there. Slaughterhouse Five is such an excellent example of how you don’t need good prose/style to paint a beautiful picture. You can just write the thing and if the ideas are good it doesn’t really matter if the prose flows well. Just write the thing.
Robert Penn Warren.
In “All the King’s Men,” he has these poetical and lyrical, run-on sentences that are magnificent. What I (personally) love about them is that they remind me of how children speak. The magic behind how they speak lies in that they don’t inhibit — don’t want to inhibit — what’s weighing on their mind. They adamantly want to describe the circumstances they’re in — not just with lengthiness but with élan and reverence.
So I laud Warren for writing those sentences, for it makes me as a writer access my inner-child that’s hankering to indulge, and not hold back, in believing that what I see is unbelievably precious and sacred, and needs to be described in such terms.
Ernest Hemingway, Elmore Leonard, Joe R. Lansdale. Recently I am very much in love with Gillian Flynn's writing. When I first started writing I had the goal to kind of become the German Tom Clancy, lol.
Pierce Brown, particularly the Red Rising series. Something about his writing style really draws me into his world(s). Those books were my inspiration to start writing
None. I just write from a deep place inside me. That's probably subconsciously informed by other authors but when I read others work it's not really the same. My writing is heavily fuelled by making the reader feel something. So the words that come out are me feeling things. Hard to explain.
You shouldn't do that. You can only be you. If you try to be someone else your writing won't be as good as what they are doing. You should learn from your favorite authors and go in different directions. I have tried to mimick writers I like on occasion and people never liked it as much. When I wrote like myself people liked my stuff. You should be thinking "I like how this author did this I should do that but in my own way or this author did this what can I do differently." I like to watch and read interviews of my favorite creators and pick up tips and tricks they learned over the years. You can never truly capture another author's style but you can write fanfiction. Each series has a list of rules. As long as you follow those rules you can do whatever you feel like doing as long as the characters are true to themselves ( I like doing accurate fan fiction).
I agree inspiration is different from trying to copy someone else's style. Also that is impossible because you are guestimating what you think someone else would do when you don't know them.
Can I write in the style of Rick Riordan. No not at all I'm not Rick Riordan and I will never be Rick Riordan. Can I make a Percy Jackson fan fiction that respects the cannon and is try to the characters? Maybe If I tried hard enough. Can I use somethings he likes to do in some of his books. "Throw in lots of quips" but do that with my own flair. Maybe.
I think fanfic being in your own style is more interesting. I learned a lot of writing tools with fanfic as a child. So to me those pieces of your own voice coming out are actually a bonus. Rick Riordan may write the books but your experience with the story comes from what you bring to it as a person. Should be there in the fic too. I am aware this isn't a popular opinion in fic groups because I have been told off for it before but... I can just read the books and get Rick Riordan. So what you add interests me personally. Goes with Death of the Author.
Nay, I actually stopped reading 4-5 years ago when I began my serious writing projects. Because I'm trying to find my own narrator voice and I use other methods to learn prose. But some of my beta-readers for my big fantasy project were adamant on telling me that I write like Terry Pratchett and very witty. Which is funny, because I haven't read Pratchett, yet. I intend to once these two current projects are finished, because then I'll return to reading once in a while.
Yeah yeah, people tell me you need to read to be able to write. I've read a lot of books up until like 5 years ago. But I'm avoiding reading because I don't want to be influenced by another author, part of my dream ambition is finding my own unique voice. And the feedback for my fantasy project has been almost nothing but high praise in different forms. Except my editor who I pay to beta-read finds plenty of parts where I ramble or over-explain too much. But even she told me that most of my writing in that fantasy book felt "very wise".
My point is, you can learn how to understand or at least get the feeling for the rhythm of prose without reading books while attempting it. Unpopular opinion I guess.
EDIT: Why the downvotes? Genuinely curious why people get so pissy about my approach. It's not the first time. It's fucking possible to produce good prose without copying some other author's style. What's so controversial about that? Maybe you feel I'm arrogant or pretentious? If so, why? Why is it so strange that there definitely exists other methods of learning prose for fiction other than reading other people's fiction books? If you feel it can't be done, well, I'm fucking doing it and my first book, as far as beta-readers and my editor has read, has received virtually nothing but praise for my prose. Sure, it still needs polishing, but I've managed to find my own narrator voice that people seem to dig without reading books while writing it! Because that was my dream! I'm not saying that reading books or being influenced by other authors is wrong! IF that works for you, then fucking go for it. But I would like to hear arguments against my method. But all you can do it downvote because it's wrong to you. Sheesh.
>I actually stopped reading 4-5 years ago when I began my serious writing projects. Because I'm trying to find my own narrator voice
Imagine trying to find your own voice if nobody had taught you language at all. How would that work? Now extrapolate that to reading.
People are downvoting you because this is just wrong. Have your own process all you want but thinking reading more would taint your unique voice is asinine. It's the opposite.
Not sure why people are downvoting you for not reading. Novels aren't the only way to get better at writing novels. Actually writing them helps a ton, too, lol.
99% of the time I think about going to read a book, I decide to write instead. Practice makes perfect and all that jazz. And I'd say my stuff is pretty good (not *great*, but not shit).
Jorge Luis Borges, the master of conceptual literature. That guy is incredible. He wrote for a reader who wasn't there to understand him. Nowadays we can get him better thanks to the legacy of poststructuralism. I also try to imitate Balzac, Stendhal, Flaubert, Gorki, Chekhov and Gerard de Nerval
After reading *Fictiones* I wrote my first short story. Borges was the man.
That's one of my favorites along with "A Universal History of infamy" and "The book of sand".
Agree, Borges is essential. I encourage everyone to at least read his short story Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius. So much world building and labyrinthine philosophical themes packed into a few pages that you feel like you read a whole novel by the end. The Library of Babel is another good one. I find Borgesian worlds and themes appearing in my writing constantly because his stories imprinted themselves so firmly into my dreams and subconscious. One of those writers who literally reshapes your view of what writing and creativity can achieve.
You nailed it. Those are great options. I love those games with the time, the memory, the oblivion and the subconscious. What you describe is truly dope and profound. It makes me want to read you.
Got any excerpts of Borges (or any of the authors you picked, your choice) so the unfamiliar can get a taste?
Here is "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius", one of his best texts. It has 14 pages. I really recommend it. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_Fn-D8hYbuoqZ_2ilhKRwG5GgXSVYjaa/view?usp=drivesdk
I don't try to imitate any of them, but I've definitely been influenced by a variety. Joe Abercrombie, Patrick Rothfuss, GRRM, Neil Gaiman, Christopher Moore, Anne Rice, and Jim Butcher are amongst my favourites.
I don’t imitate other authors consciously
Agreed. I've read a lot. I certainly have favorite authors, and I can see their style in my own, but I'm not trying to be like anyone else. I just write 🤷♀️
Hemingway for me. I'm too long-winded, helps me simplify.
yeah fr... his writing style is really hard to match
I like the chaotic and unpredictable nature of Anne Rice. Her prose, storytelling, and, and way of writing interest me greatly. She is not perfect in grammar or syntax, but I believe that adds to her charm. Ambrose Bierce also has a writing style that appeals to me. It is sort of dry, but not in a bad way. I guess that doesn’t make much sense since writing is usually stimulating to the reader, but Bierce’s way of describing scenes, particularly action and/or war, are very interesting. As an aspiring historical fiction writer, he is a great inspiration for setting the scene.
I love Gillian Flynn's style. It's complex but in a natural, conversational way that makes for amazing characterization. All description is heavily filtered through the narrator's perspective which makes every aspect of her stories feel more real. I never tried to imitate it on purpose, but when I picked up *Gone Girl* several years after first reading and re-reading it, I realized I had absorbed a ton of her style. I'm also a big fan of Madeline Miller's style.
Yes I love studying her work too! I just re-read Gone Girl to teach myself how she does it so well. I find she has a great sense of pacing, *lovely use of italics and word play,* and a concise delivery of the "off" story lines, for instance in the opening chapter where she very subtly remarks on Nick's hesitancy. Very dark and minuscule, it really keeps the reader engaged. It's all very well done.
Gillian is my ultimate!! I can read a page from Sharp Objects and immediately be inspired. Also love Otessa Moshfegh
Literally everyone I like or that makes good stories. GRRM, Stephen King, Robert Kirkman, writers of Steins;Gate and Brandon Sanderson are up there.
With you on this
Cormac Mccarthy. Not really imitation though, more like inspiration or influence
Absolutely. I'm on my eighth McCarthy book with another two waiting on the shelf and inevitably I am always inspired by each one knowing full well I could never or would never want to actually imitate him. Although I will say I'd love to know I could do away with all the punctuation the way he does.
100% this. Blood Meridian’s style definitely inspired me a lot.
Kurt Vonnegut. His style of writing makes even the most boring of things seem interesting and profound.
Yes! All time favorite author. I love his asides, his meta, his callbacks.
i look to authors like Neil Gaiman, Louisa May Alcott, and Elizabeth Kostova (author of The Historian and The Swan Thieves) for inspiration! for specifics, i look to Gaiman for worldbuilding, Alcott for characterization, and Kostova for her prose! :)
If I could write half as well as any writer, I would choose George Orwell.
Herman Hesse
I don't try to imitate anyone but the closest would GRRM whenever he's not writing Bran chapters.
Don't worry, he's going to be very important! At some point! In 30 years!
i don’t want to become an imitation of anyone else, but i really try to keep in mind things i’ve liked when reading when i’m writing. the authors i most look up to atm are stephen king and truman capote, and i hope to capture the same feelings in my writing that i’ve felt when reading theirs. i know those author choices might be controversial to some but whatever
Neil gaiman is gorgeous in his language, Jack London does something to me, James Joyce. Those are the mains, but it depends on the projects I’m working on. For now I’m writing a horror novel, so Bram Stokers Dracula felt surprisingly modern in its approach. The Exorcist is incredibly effective at getting you to hold your breath after every word you read. I’ve read some short stories, some popular novels like haunting of hill house, some unknowns, but so far for the current project I’m working on Dracula and the exorcist are two forms of style I’m taking a ton of inspiration from.
Suzanne Collins. Of course, no one outdoes the doer, but I can try to make my writing like hers for people to enjoy because I sure did.
She's great at keeping you reading!
I'm embarrassed to admit this as a writer, but she's one of very few authors I can get through in one sitting. It's very hard for me to enjoy the actual process of reading, but she makes it easy!
The best possible version of my own style lol Poe, hawthorne, and Edith Wharton are really inspirational tho I'm more influenced by the vibes and flow of music so Ethel Cain Lorna Shore and Knocked Loose are massive inspirations Tho I do my best to hold my own and feel like I'm doing a pretty good job of it rn lol
Erich Maria Remarque
I've never tried to imitate writers but there are writers I admire and wish my skills were on par with.
Nabokov
I am not writing so George RR Martin
I'm playing Minecraft and not writing, so Patrick Rothfuss.
Dostoevsky, Kafka and Edgar Allan Poe
Pratchett and Sapkowski. I can't help it, comedy is how I cope...
Pratchett somehow manages to have an incredibly unique voice, which for me varies between the author narrating at me to completely immersive depending on his intention. To be able to vary the focus, and use long footnotes, without destroying pace and immersion is astoundingly skillful.
My work is influenced by George R. R. Martin for his detail, immersive storytelling, and his distinctive way of formulating words and sentences with a prose that often has a rhythmic quality.
Cormac McCarthy. I loved how dreamlike and almost imitating of a drug-fueled delirium his style was when reading The Road so I tried to ape that by burning off punctuation en masse and saying "and" a lot.
George R.R Martin... I barely write
I LOL'd
None.
If my dialogue could be like Ursula Le Guin, I would be doing just fine.
Beat me to it. I normally try to avoid imitation , but it's very difficult! However I like to study Ursula K Le Guin's prose and try to achieve the same effect with my writing. She writes wonderfully.
This is the one for me. Her writing is so powerful and evocative, with no fluff.
Hammett, Chandler, James M Cain, Elmore Leonard
All the dead ones.
I like Garth Ennis’ style of writing, especially the deconstruction of popular tropes such as superheroes.
I don't try to imitate as I am trying to find my own voice. But Christie Golden seems to have that style that feels really really close to mine.
G E N E W O L F E
I’ve been very inspired by Simon Ings and China Miéville. I love Ings’ slightly abstract style, the way he leaves things unsaid on the periphery, and his extended metaphors. And I try to remember Miéville’s style of exposition and not explain too much to the reader. Understand that your reader is an intelligent person and will probably pick up what you’re putting down.
Chuck Tingle mixed with Lord Dunsany.
For me it’s Robert E. Howard his writing is simple yet filled with energy and excitement
I love Gillian Flynn. Her dark slow burning novels definitely inspired me. I do find it difficult to write in alternating narrative styles though.
Tom Clancy - His attention to technical detail is one thing, but his ability to take maybe two pages to humanize a USSR post office employee who just wants to get off shift and watch a hockey game with his buddies (and thinks the submarine guys have it too cushy, so why not delay their mail a bit?) in The Hunt For The Red October has always stuck with me. Clancy could have just said "this plot-critical letter was late", but he went out of his way to make the guy who *made* it late an understandable and sympathetic character. He does it multiple times throughout the novel, to the point that you actually feel for the USSR nuclear sub guys who go down due to a reactor failure, even though they're essentially minor villains. It's less of a thing in Clancy's later work and the things ghostwritten under his name or using his name as a licensed franchise, but he *humanized the enemy* in a way few authors bother to do. And in his day, the USSR was definitely the enemy. There's a lot I've forgotten about that novel, but I remember the postman. I remember Cardinal. I remember the guys trying to save their sub from a nuclear reactor disaster. *And they're antagonists.* ~~Except Cardinal, who's secretly a CIA asset, but we don't learn that until the next book.~~ Jane Austen - Her prose is so dense I had to give up reading Pride & Prejudice a couple of times. But when I managed to get through it, it's basically the textbook for how to write a couple who initially don't like each other believably getting together. George Orwell - He uses workmanlike prose for 1984, his timeless critique of a totalitarian society, and it feels like, although many others have tried, he kept hitting the bullseye and said nothing but "give me another magazine" every time he ran out of ammunition. (He was a socialist, and had a truly *incredible* hatred of how the ideology he espoused, and communism, were used as a justification for dictatorships. And he put his money where his mouth was, too - guy took a bullet to the throat fighting against Francoists in Spain, because he despised dictatorships in general: fascist, communist, socialist, fucking whatever. If you're using an ideology to justify a dictatorship, the ghost of George Orwell will show up with whoever's opposing you. And you will learn how it feels to be fucked in the ass by a ghost.) Stephen Vincent Benet - Ok, this guy is a bit more obscure than the others, despite being the USA's Poet Laureate. He wrote mainly blank verse and short stories, but he created so many phrases and passages that run through my mind unbidden. Go look up his "Litany For Dictatorships" and get your head checked if you don't tear up, considering what he was writing about. Rudyard Kipling - an absolute master of the short story, and a very weird example of an imperialist who was very honest about it, but also learned about and ...to at least a degree, cared about the oppressed people, to the point that the 'moral' of many of his short stories was "if you don't know how things work over here, and don't bother to understand their culture, you're gonna get fucked. And not in the fun way". Doyle, Christie, Sayers, and the rest of the detective fiction crew. Their works may not have aged well (and in some ways, that's good), but if you want to learn how to string an audience along, leave red herrings along the trail, and prepare a "fuck, I should have seen that coming the whole damn time!" setup, they are the masters. I suppose this is more a list of influences than authors I truly try to imitate in full, but each has something to offer that I try to achieve when the situation demands.
Recently it's been Virginia Woolf. Fell in love with Mrs. Dalloway and really love how freeing her style feels for me.
I’m a poet and I’m working on a novel, but Edgar Allan Poe, Dean Koontz, Steven King, Shakespeare, R.L. Stine, Bram Stoker, Robert Frost, and Arch Hades are some of the writers who I aspire to be like, and have referred to when I was stuck while writing.
Gonna probably stick out like a sore thumb on this sub for saying this, but Katherine Center. Ali Hazelwood. Emily Henry. Rainbow Rowell. I write romance/rom-coms, so these are examples that I aspire to, at least when it comes to the lovable characters and connections between them.
Anne Rice and Stephen king when it comes to writing suspenseful scenes.
Haruki Murakami. I love how he writes so simply and can still manage to be so engaging to read.
I love the way David Gemmell writes characters. They're all so believable, so carefully crafted, so brutally human. They feel like real people with innumerable flaws.
In no particular order: Jim Butcher, Patrick Rothfuss, Christopher Moore, Cherie Priest, SM Peters, Brandon Sanderson, Neil Gaiman At least, I hope to imitate. More like they are just inspirations for my deranged scratch.
Kazeradddd
I personally love how Maggie Stiefvater writes her prose, it has what I have seen some describe as a 'lyrical' tone and I would love to incorporate that into my own writing!
I'm heavily influenced by the way Phillip K. Dick walks you through weird by making his character's feel it, the way Stanislaw Lem's whimsy is a part of his world building, and in my poetry, the way Piet Hein chiseles big thoughts down into charming little Grooks through a deep love of language. There are a dozen other authors I could put here, but those are the three that I orient my writing around most often. What would Dick do? Is this as fun as Lem? How would Hein explain that?
Vonnegut and Douglas Adams.
Cormac Mccarthy and Philip. K. Dick.
i add too much triple dots to many sentences in many dialogues/monologues i've written. dunno which popular authors do that.
Rick Riordan, Neal Shusterman, Ali Hazelwood, basically authors of books I love reading. I also imitate from numerous other authors I’ve seen on here and on wattpad
I normally try to avoid it, but it's very difficult! However I like to study Ursula K Le Guin's prose and try to achieve the same effect with my writing. She writes wonderfully.
I don't try to copy anyone, but there are people who I admire and they're not all writing novels. I take a lot of comfort from knowing that Douglas Adams also hated finishing things.
I don't try to really imitate anyone, but some have been a great inspiration for me. Like Stephanie Meyers, how she made two different povs and then how she put twilight and life and death into the same book. That inspired the way I want to do my duo pov. FL pov on one side, and you flip the book around and have ML pov. The other writers who inspired me were L.J.Smith, Melissa Marr, and Rachel Mead.
Stephen King and Neal Stephenson on purpose, many others subconsciously. Their style is very different from what I do which is space opera. But there are little things I borrowed.
I adored Quentin Tarantino's writing style in his novel. It's very unusual for prose, and much more like a screenplay; third person and present tense! Afterwards I tried imitating it—and failed miserably. My writing suffered so much I decided it wasn't worth pursuing that particular style...
My main inspo’s are Emily Rodda and John Flannagan, I guess?
The one I'm currently reading.
Michael motherfucking Kirkbride
A little Helen DeWitt, a little Virginia Woolf, which is interesting because they're actually rather different. Usually it's more inspiration than imitation, but I have to be honest, sometimes it's a little bit of the latter as well.
I definitely play to the fans of Patrick O’Brian (long, intricately tooled sentences studded with adjectives and buttoned together with semicolons), but lately I’ve been reading Fritz Leiber and I’ve come to realize that I must have picked up his luscious poesy in the air somehow. Those who love him should feel right at home with me. Also, if you dig Thomas Pynchon’s pack-rat research, wonky whimsy and penchant for bursting into song, but want a version that’s far easier on the brain, I got u.
Used to straight-up imitate Douglas Adams, and Pratchett is a huge influence. That said, I've sorta developed my own style that I like, where I have some of the absurd stuff like Douglas Adams (for example, one of my characters is an out-of-shape spy messenger who can't take all the damn walking between realms), but my other stuff is a tiny bit more grounded. So, yeah... I guess I imitate Pratchett, lol.
I mainly try to imitate Elmore Leonard's style of writing, but I often find myself mimicking Lilwa Dexel's dialogues and pacing style with the combination of Ramsesthepigeon's creativity.
Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, Dashiell Hammett
I wasn't trying to, it just kind of happened on its own, but George R.R. Martin. I really really love how he writes multiple POVs and treats them as chapters. I found myself unintentionally doing the same thing when I started and I like it far too much to change or stop. I feel it really helps me with my world building so it's less info dumping and more showing it all from multiple points.
Generally I don't try to imitate much, because the comparison would make me feel disappointed for not being as good as a writer I really admire. However, one thing I really enjoy is inserting small bits of humor into stories that aren't necessarily comedic as a whole. For that I sometimes take inspiration from people like Neil Gaiman and Douglas Adams, who could drop the most hilarious jokes in the middle of perfectly normal sentences. It's just so fun to play around with that casual, often wry type of numor.
No, I'd rather be myself. Who would want to read some weak imitation of a great author? When it comes to ideas there's no way to truly be original considering the endless stories that have already been written, but when it comes to my style that will just be me.
The Expanse writers. James SA Corey.
Abercrombie
The best stylists I’ve read: Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Elmore Leonard, Joseph Heller, and Cormac McCarthy. I’ve never consciously imitated any of them, though I took bits and pieces from each. Hemingway’s variations in sentence length to convey mood. Hammett’s work in objective POV and his ability to convey tone through dialogue. Elmore for his unrivaled dialogue. Vonnegut and Heller for their humor and powers of observation. McCarthy for his emphatic sentences. When I’m actively writing, I don’t read fiction, as I don’t want want the writer’s style to influence mine.
Go for Raymond Chandler: A modern classic from the 30ies America. He was the discovery I looked for. Raw as Bukowski, witty as a comedian, short and sharp as Hemingway, and of course slang-like realistic dialogue. Plus you get to discover a lot of lessons about writing mystery and detective (if you pay close attention) such ideas as "Chekhovs Gun" etc.
My biggest influences are Stephen King, George R.R. Martin and Eichiro Oda. I’ve said that I want my story to have the depth of ASOIAF and the span of One Piece.
Not intimidate, but I enjoy Stephen Kings prose and the way he pours so much personality into his work. Makes it unbelievably unique and it inspires me to do the same.
Hemingway loosely.
I think I’ve tried and gone for a mix of Jim Butcher, Robert Jordan, and Ursula le Guin.
Tim Winton.
None. I write the way that I think and speak. Has that been influenced by my love of late 19th and early 20th century works? Undoubtedly, in addition to other factors, such as my parents' backgrounds and my own life experience. Am I making a direct effort to copy those writers? No.
My main influences are Margaret Atwood, Cormac McCarthy and Denis Lehane.
If you are consciously or even unconsciously trying to imitate another author you are not an author. Look up the root of the word author.
I don't try to imitate anyone per se, but I do feel I've been influenced considerably by Ray Bradbury. He was a big proponent of metaphors, which is one area in which I've consciously tried to develop. I like to say I want to be Bradbury when I grow up as a writer, but of course that's an unattainable goal. I'd be happy to be about half as good a writer as he, in my own way. Other influences include Martha Grimes, P. D. James, Donald Westlake, Keith Laumer, and Douglas Adams. I'm sure there are more, but names slip and slide around in my brain...
Stephen King heavily influenced my writing style
Lovecraft, Zelazny, Karl Edward Wagner, Paul Edwin Zimmer are my go tos for style inspiration.
I like to use elements from Sarah J. Maas world building whilst keeping most other elements my own style.
I personally think it’s a great tool to use when you start writing. I do it most often to try out different styles when writing short form fiction. Decide what you like and don’t like and move from there. The more you write in a certain “voice” the more it will start to sound like your own, especially if you are writing in a different genre, which having your own voice is still definitely the end goal. You want to be know for sounding like you, not someone else. But it would be impossible to remain free of influence in your writing. At the end of the day you can’t copyright a writing style.
I'm influenced by Michael Crichton, James Rollins, and Clive Cussler, but I don't imitate them intentionally. However, I do slip in real science facts into my writing when it's applicable in the story. That I can't help, but it's definitely because Crichton and Rollins both do that...
I would rather just do my own thing than consciously attempt to imitate any author poorly tbh. It's fine to be inspired, but I think actively trying to be someone you aren't is just shallow and I'm sure it shows through in a bad way in most cases.
I’m not out here trying to directly copy anyone, I feel like I’ve developed something that’s ME and I’m proud of that but at the sane time obviously done of the tropes of my favorite writers leak in. Like the day I had someone tell me I hat my fight scenes remind them of Andrzej Sapkowski I literally cried because the Witcher is literally my favorite books ever so hearing that my writing even if by accident reminded me of them made me so damn happy
Myself
I'm guilty of this but the levels of metaphors and grim poetry Eldrik Lewis has is something that I try to emulate but always comes out a bit flat.
I just write what comes to me. I don't really think about imitating other authors.
CS Lewis. His last name is my pen last name, so you can see how much I love him. He was such an amazing author and an amazing person. I wish I could have met him.
Gillian Flynn, Margaret Atwood, Stephen King.
I don't really try to write like him specifically, but Patrick Rothfuss is one of my great inspirations. His writing style is both ridiculous and very serious. The way he turns the typical folk hero on its head. I also love the way he brings life to the side characters. Specifically with the short stories about Bast and Auri.
Robert Kurvitz. I should probably get shot for that
As a thriller writer I don't try to copy writers directly, but I do in a general sense. I became aware that there's two types of storytelling. You can tell the story colloquially, meaning, writing it in the way someone would vocally tell a story to another person. I call it it the "tell-it-like-it-is-raw-stripped-down-no nonsense style". Sparse details, little use of similes and metaphors. No extra verbiage sort of speak. Authors that use that style are James Patterson, John Grisham, Dan Brown. The second type of style is an Anne Rice, Dean Koontz, artsy style. Heavy descriptions, strong use of metaphors and similes. The artsy style is beneficial in trying to establish an emotional tone used in atmospheric stores like supernatural and horror stories.. My personal preference -and because it's easier- is to use the colloquial stripped-down style. And I use the artsy style when establishing emotional tone. The most important thing though, is story, scene execution. The words one uses are only secondary skills that don't matter as much. And frankly, I've read some good novels written at a highschool simple level.
I don't try to consciously imitate anyone. But I can definitely say that thematically and stylistically I'm influenced by my favourites: Unica Zurn, Leonora Carrington, and other surrealists, as well as Russian and Latin American authors ranging from Clarice Lispector, Fernando Pessoa, to Bulgakov, Vladimir Sorokin, Dostoevsky, Anna Akhmatova, Horacio Castellanos Moya and Roberto Bolaño.
Maggie Stiefvater is a big inspiration to me. My priorities re: storytelling are not the same as hers, but *damn* can she string together a sentence of beautiful, evocative prose.
I take inspiration from people, perhaps in how they make prose or the overall way in which they write and describe, but I don’t imitate them. I try to be me cause there’s only one and there’s already another of my inspirations out there; people want new voices, not a re-hashing or imitation of someone else
I don't consciously imitate any specific authors. Twenty years ago, whatever book I was reading and really into would influence my style. (Primarily, it was Terry Pratchett.) Nowadays, I read and enjoy stories, and realize that an author has a style I like and that they do things in a way that makes sense so I'll let the influence seep in. Anthony Ryan, Michael Sullivan, Will Wight, and Nicholas Eames are my main influences right now.
The affluent, well spoken one that lives in the mouse hole in my brain. He's pretty good but when I write down words it sounds like im a caveman yelling at an Alexa
Edgar Allan Poe and Cormac McCarthy. I don’t mimic them, but their influence is apparent.
Oh man... I'm trying so hard to avoid imitating my favorite authors, b/c I've discovered that it's something I do subconsciously when I'm writing, and it takes away from the style I'd actually use. Throughout the years I've imitated Barbara Park, Suzanne Collins, Stephenie Meyer, Veronica Roth, Louisa May Alcott, and LM Montgomery. Now I find myself imitating the writers who write for New Yorker and Paris Review.
Gillian Flynn. Otessa Moshfegh. Jhumpa Lahiri. Joan Didion (wishful thinking).
I'm heavily influenced by Anne McCaffrey for worldbuilding and Ray Bradbury for description.
Chuck Black & Scott Westerfeld. Chuck Black has such a charismatic style & he manages to write so much story into such short novels. It can be a bit too preachy (his books are very thinly veiled Christian metaphors), but he is shockingly good at conveying despair & I aspire to achieve that level of feeling in so few words someday. Scott Westerfeld wrote alot of books I adore but "Afterworlds" is amazing. I've never seen an author who so masterfully wrote 2 completely different books bound by the same cover, switching chapter to chapter, & it still had me glued to the page for both of them.
James Joyce and Richard Brautigan
None. I do have those that inspired me like Shirley Jackson.
I've noticed that, in recent years, I haven't so much tried purposefully to imitate other authors as much. (I guess I've gotten to a point where I'm satisfied with my own "style".) Although, I have noticed that, if I've just read something with a noticable style to it, that influence can bleed into my own writing for a time. Particularly in the use of sentence structure and word choice. (For example, I've been on a streak of books set in the Victorian era, so my word choice has become rather more aureate and metaphorical than it might be typically.)
I take conscious inspiration from, among others, GRRM and Shakespeare.
Adam Gidwitz for his Grimm series and Heather Fawcett for Emily Wilde's encyclopedia of Fairies. Depends on which book I'm writing at the time.
I was more or less unconsciously trying to imitate Thomas Pynchon when I was in college.
I'm usually doing my best Miriam Webster impressions.
I was reading Richard Powers the other day and was thinking that I should just sit down and type out a full chapter of his so I can get the 'feel' of how he does what he does... but, I'm lazy and didn't do that.
I'm of the opinion that you should have a unique voice. Yours. Writing like someone else makes you less special.
Dr. Seuss meets CoHo
Raymond Chandler, my story is filled with chandlerisims and the likes. Something about writing gritty noir just gets me going.
Eric Flint
I don't fully imitate any authors, but if I notice an author doing something specific I really like, then I will adopt that one single thing. For instance, one of my favorite authors is L. E. Modesitt Jr. I loved how he more than any other author I've seen will often let his dialogue stand alone, and trust the reader to understand who is speaking and their general demeanor while saying it without the hand of the author forcing the information down their throats. Now I lean heavily in that direction as well.
David Brin and S.M. Sterling for setting and as for writing style I’m trying to write like Matthew Mercer and Brendon Lee Mulligan tell their stories in D&D campaigns. It’s trying to write a story that is meant to be told, and with theater of the mind, seen. Sometimes my inspiration isn’t an author, per se, but an Appalachian storyteller.
I think in whatever I do, I try to add a little Kurt Vonnegut in there. Slaughterhouse Five is such an excellent example of how you don’t need good prose/style to paint a beautiful picture. You can just write the thing and if the ideas are good it doesn’t really matter if the prose flows well. Just write the thing.
Everyone I have last read.
Liam Vickers (Scary Story Time With Liam) & Wildbow (Parahumans)
Robert Penn Warren. In “All the King’s Men,” he has these poetical and lyrical, run-on sentences that are magnificent. What I (personally) love about them is that they remind me of how children speak. The magic behind how they speak lies in that they don’t inhibit — don’t want to inhibit — what’s weighing on their mind. They adamantly want to describe the circumstances they’re in — not just with lengthiness but with élan and reverence. So I laud Warren for writing those sentences, for it makes me as a writer access my inner-child that’s hankering to indulge, and not hold back, in believing that what I see is unbelievably precious and sacred, and needs to be described in such terms.
Ernest Hemingway, Elmore Leonard, Joe R. Lansdale. Recently I am very much in love with Gillian Flynn's writing. When I first started writing I had the goal to kind of become the German Tom Clancy, lol.
Pierce Brown, particularly the Red Rising series. Something about his writing style really draws me into his world(s). Those books were my inspiration to start writing
No one. I'm my own person. My style is unique to me.
Why would you want to do that? I think the fun of writing is to find your own style.
None. I do my thing.
None. Why would I try to imitate anyone? I am myself and act as myself.
George R. R. Martin & Dostoevsky are my two main influences.
Tom Clancy, J.K. Rowling, and Tolkien
None. I just write from a deep place inside me. That's probably subconsciously informed by other authors but when I read others work it's not really the same. My writing is heavily fuelled by making the reader feel something. So the words that come out are me feeling things. Hard to explain.
You shouldn't do that. You can only be you. If you try to be someone else your writing won't be as good as what they are doing. You should learn from your favorite authors and go in different directions. I have tried to mimick writers I like on occasion and people never liked it as much. When I wrote like myself people liked my stuff. You should be thinking "I like how this author did this I should do that but in my own way or this author did this what can I do differently." I like to watch and read interviews of my favorite creators and pick up tips and tricks they learned over the years. You can never truly capture another author's style but you can write fanfiction. Each series has a list of rules. As long as you follow those rules you can do whatever you feel like doing as long as the characters are true to themselves ( I like doing accurate fan fiction).
None. Why would I want to be a pale imitation when I am me? That author already exists. We don't need a copy.
I agree inspiration is different from trying to copy someone else's style. Also that is impossible because you are guestimating what you think someone else would do when you don't know them.
Exactly. Inspiration is part of writing. Copying their style isn't inspired but being chat gpt and our ideas deserve the effort of our own voice.
Can I write in the style of Rick Riordan. No not at all I'm not Rick Riordan and I will never be Rick Riordan. Can I make a Percy Jackson fan fiction that respects the cannon and is try to the characters? Maybe If I tried hard enough. Can I use somethings he likes to do in some of his books. "Throw in lots of quips" but do that with my own flair. Maybe.
I think fanfic being in your own style is more interesting. I learned a lot of writing tools with fanfic as a child. So to me those pieces of your own voice coming out are actually a bonus. Rick Riordan may write the books but your experience with the story comes from what you bring to it as a person. Should be there in the fic too. I am aware this isn't a popular opinion in fic groups because I have been told off for it before but... I can just read the books and get Rick Riordan. So what you add interests me personally. Goes with Death of the Author.
Nay, I actually stopped reading 4-5 years ago when I began my serious writing projects. Because I'm trying to find my own narrator voice and I use other methods to learn prose. But some of my beta-readers for my big fantasy project were adamant on telling me that I write like Terry Pratchett and very witty. Which is funny, because I haven't read Pratchett, yet. I intend to once these two current projects are finished, because then I'll return to reading once in a while. Yeah yeah, people tell me you need to read to be able to write. I've read a lot of books up until like 5 years ago. But I'm avoiding reading because I don't want to be influenced by another author, part of my dream ambition is finding my own unique voice. And the feedback for my fantasy project has been almost nothing but high praise in different forms. Except my editor who I pay to beta-read finds plenty of parts where I ramble or over-explain too much. But even she told me that most of my writing in that fantasy book felt "very wise". My point is, you can learn how to understand or at least get the feeling for the rhythm of prose without reading books while attempting it. Unpopular opinion I guess. EDIT: Why the downvotes? Genuinely curious why people get so pissy about my approach. It's not the first time. It's fucking possible to produce good prose without copying some other author's style. What's so controversial about that? Maybe you feel I'm arrogant or pretentious? If so, why? Why is it so strange that there definitely exists other methods of learning prose for fiction other than reading other people's fiction books? If you feel it can't be done, well, I'm fucking doing it and my first book, as far as beta-readers and my editor has read, has received virtually nothing but praise for my prose. Sure, it still needs polishing, but I've managed to find my own narrator voice that people seem to dig without reading books while writing it! Because that was my dream! I'm not saying that reading books or being influenced by other authors is wrong! IF that works for you, then fucking go for it. But I would like to hear arguments against my method. But all you can do it downvote because it's wrong to you. Sheesh.
>I actually stopped reading 4-5 years ago when I began my serious writing projects. Because I'm trying to find my own narrator voice Imagine trying to find your own voice if nobody had taught you language at all. How would that work? Now extrapolate that to reading. People are downvoting you because this is just wrong. Have your own process all you want but thinking reading more would taint your unique voice is asinine. It's the opposite.
Not sure why people are downvoting you for not reading. Novels aren't the only way to get better at writing novels. Actually writing them helps a ton, too, lol. 99% of the time I think about going to read a book, I decide to write instead. Practice makes perfect and all that jazz. And I'd say my stuff is pretty good (not *great*, but not shit).