Emulation
via supergee, The Ten Most Harmful Novels.
While I know I'm not alone is considering Ayn Rand's stuff largely gaseous emissions, I thought I was the only one in the world who thought Cormac McArthur wrote overwrought crapola.
That aside, I was thinking about writers who start out by trying to consciously emulate someone's style--you know, when you're thirteen. I recall trying to write like Louise Fitzhugh when I was in junior high, when Harriet the Spy came out. (If I'd actually learned anything by that, I would no doubt be much better than I am now.) Another one I tried to write like (and failed) was Lucy Boston. Oh yes, and Alexander King.
Writers whose tics crept into mine and had to be consciously excised . . . Patrick Dennis, Georgette Heyer, Enid Blyton.
While I know I'm not alone is considering Ayn Rand's stuff largely gaseous emissions, I thought I was the only one in the world who thought Cormac McArthur wrote overwrought crapola.
That aside, I was thinking about writers who start out by trying to consciously emulate someone's style--you know, when you're thirteen. I recall trying to write like Louise Fitzhugh when I was in junior high, when Harriet the Spy came out. (If I'd actually learned anything by that, I would no doubt be much better than I am now.) Another one I tried to write like (and failed) was Lucy Boston. Oh yes, and Alexander King.
Writers whose tics crept into mine and had to be consciously excised . . . Patrick Dennis, Georgette Heyer, Enid Blyton.