This creative writing exercise is very old and often used to help writers gain a firm grasp on their own style and even voice, while it also helps writer’s decipher what works in fiction, and poetry and what does not. And all this is achieved by studying closely the works of other writers or rather by copying them.
The idea and process of this exercise is quite simple. You should pick a passage from your favorite book by your favorite author and copy it out until you grasp the fine intricacies of language and tone and style that make this passage so powerful. The next step in this exercise is to write a similar passage yourself, with different characters and a different setting, but still ultimately the same in style and voice and use of language and tone. You are trying to recreate the same feeling, the same emotion of the original, but using your own words, imagination and creativity.
Do this exercise a few times and with different passages. In the process you will learn exactly what makes a powerful passage, all the elements required to entice an emotion in the reader, as well as come at least one step closer to your own unique and fully developed writing style. By studying the works and style of others you will soon be able to understand better all the parts that make up the whole of it and you will then be able to apply that knowledge to your own writing.
In addition you will also learn how best to to handle certain fictional situations, such as descriptions, characterization, foreshadowing and so on. At first pick passages from works you like best, but then as you get more efficient at this exercise branch out and try to copy authors whose style does not appeal to you so much, or is not so close to your own. For example, if in your own writing you like to keep the descriptions to a minimum try copying and rewriting a passage full of descriptions. This will certainly help you make your own descriptions much more powerful.
Stay creative!
Other creative writing ideas:
Creative Writing Ideas: Get Your Own Creative Writing Prompts
Creative Writing Ideas: Free Writing
Creative Writing Ideas: Seeing Clearly is Writing Well
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
very interesting. I’ll try this… eventuallly. lol.
Hey,
sorry for the late reply, but I’ve been taking a little holiday too
so no problem. I’m glad you’re enjoying the exercises and i hope they are at least a little helpful as well.
Take care!
This answers a dilemma for me. I was always under the impression that should NOT study another person’s writings in order to adopt their style or learn from them. I have always thought that it would hamper my own style from coming through. But what you say makes a lot of sense and I can see how it would work. Thanks for the info!
Lura
Glad I could help! I think to an extent writers copy each others’ style subconsciously already just by reading, at least I find myself writing in the style of anything I just read for awhile after I read something (wow, what a complicated sentence). I suppose that’s why it isn’t advisable to read other stuff while you’re writing a piece of your own. But other than that, doing this exercise really helps you get a better command over your own style and what you’re trying to achieve through it. And you’re welcome
!
Vanja
Sorry to say this Vanja, but I do not agree with you on this one. Real writers never COPY other writers’ work in any way, or rather, they shouldn’t. Real “creative” writers normally write from their own heads or notes, and don’t need to “study” others’ work to create their own style. Lura was therefore quite right in her original thinking (impression). In fact, one can actually get into trouble for copying other people’s moves, ideas, and styles. Good writers in my opinion are always ORIGINAL. Please see my “fiction news” stories on my own facebook Profile Notes for samples or examples of “creative writing” — it’s straight from the head, original, authentic. If you think I’m wrong on this, then please help me right.
Steve
Hi Steve and welcome to my blog! I do agree with you 100 % that copying other authors work is absolutely wrong, from and ethical, moral as well as legal point of view. But in my post I was not actually encouraging anyone to do so, I was merely relaying an idea or an exercise, which has actually been in use by writers for a very long time as a device to study the process of creative writing. Furthermore, it has been my personal experience that writers already subconsciously “copy” from other writers. Have you never noticed how after reading a piece of writing anything you write for a few days afterward comes out in a style much similar to that writing? I have been writing since high school and I have noticed this phenomenon many times, to the point that I prefer not to read anything when I am writing something.
So basically, in this post I was suggesting a more structured and conscious way of doing something that writers do naturally anyway and I was by no means encouraging anyone to copy anyone elses’ work. Thanks for your comment though, it’s right on point and has given me this chance to clarify what I meant by this post exactly.
Hope to see you back soon
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