vio1315 Originally from thenomadicquill

thenomadicquill:

Hone your writing style. One of the few writing exercises I use to hone my writing style is to copy an author’s writing style. It is very simple. You find an author you like, for me it was Cormac McCarthy, try and remember a scene or moment in a book of theirs, remember it the best you can, and then write it down without looking back, or reading, the scene.

When reading the original author’s scene, you will notice a difference between yours and theirs. Now you analyze. What are the big differences? What differs in descriptions? Do you not describe things more, but they do? What about word usage? How is the tone different? What do they do differently that you want start doing? What is something you do that makes the scene better?

When you do this exercise, it shows you what you might want to improve on. Better descriptions, natural sounding dialogue, a tone you want, etc. But instead of improvement, you might notice things about your style that you actually enjoy. I found that my tone of writing is very atmospheric and poetic, while McCarthy’s is gritty and real. And as much as I like McCarthy’s writing tone, I enjoy mine more. In trying to get that gritty and real tone, I found that I enjoy reading it but not writing it.

It is a very fun exercise to do, for improvement or not. It also helps to recognize writing styles and tone better. Give it a try! Which author would you use in this exercise?