How to Write Well. Step 2: Imitation

Now that you’ve read your favorite authors, copy them.

No, I’m not advocating plagiarism. Nor am I recommending that we all become Asylum Entertainment-level copycats who can’t come up with original ideas and never contribute anything to society other than rehashes of a better writer’s work.

But if you want to learn to write like your favorite authors, write like them. An important step in learning anything new is practice, and good practice starts with imitation.

If you want to write good music, first listen to music, then learn to play songs written by others. Then add variation. Very soon, you can write original pieces of music.

A good way to practice your writing is the “pastiche,” a work of writing that imitates another. Write a new chapter to Tom Sawyer. Tell a lost story of Harry Potter. One of the most rewarding ways I practiced writing was by creating a sequel to Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” 

 

I’m not recommending lazy fan-fiction here. After you’re done writing your pastiche, read it in context with the rest of the author’s work. See what parts fit, and what parts don’t. Look for differences in style and tone. Where does your story not sound like your favorite author?

The same goes for non-fiction. In journalism, practice covering a major news story, then see how your reporting differs from that of a well-respected news outlet.

Each piece of writing has a voice. A novel and a dissertation on marine life are written in vastly different styles, or “voices.”

All writing is a form of impression. Each sentence is a form of imitation. I’m not just talking about imitating real people, either. JK Rowling had to do impersonations of Ron Weasley, of Hermione Granger, of Harry Potter. She had to write in their voices, not hers.

Your characters must each have their own distinct voice. Your narrator’s voice must be unique from your character’s and it must be consistent throughout the work.

To develop your voices, imitate others. Learn how Dickens or Mark Twain crafted his tone, his characters, his narrative style. Learn how to write like them, then learn how to write like you.

It’s an important way to practice crafting a specific tone, and a way to learn how to write in different voices. Imitate. Do impressions. Then go off and create your own work, knowing that you can write in whatever tone and in whatever voice suits your work best.