Who’s writing style should you copy?
what makes them great? what can you learn from the greatest? how to find your own style and voice.
Every writer has their favorite author. There’s something about their style and voice. You dream of writing a book just like them. But is this a good idea? Should you actually copy other famous writers writing style? Or should you find your own voice?
in this blog, we will answer who’s writing style should you copy?..
WHO’S WRITING STYLE SHOULD YOU COPY?
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Should you attempt to copy successful writers and how they write their novels? It sounds like a good idea. If they’re successful and you copy them doesn’t that mean success will come your way?
The problem is everyone writes differently. No two writers write the same way. What feels good for you may not be good for someone else. What works for a successful well-known author may not work well for you. You need to find your way.
FINDING YOUR OWN VOICE
One of the hardest things to do as an amateur writer is finding your own style, your own voice. It’s easy to copy someone who has been successful believing if you copy them success will come your way. There is logic in that but does it work? If you copy Stephen King’s style of writing and writing methods shouldn’t you be as successful?
It’s important to remember famous writers do not copy each other. it took a while but each of them found their own unique way of writing and storytelling.
ALL WRITERS HAVE THEIR OWN METHOD
Some writers will write at midnight and write all night. Some writers write at 9 am and stop at 5 like a job and will not write weekends. As though they’re working in an office. Some can write in a crowded coffee shop J.K. Rowling wrote the famous “Harry Potter” in a coffee shop not minding the noise. Others need full silence. some writers need to rent a quiet cottage away from friends and family to have no distraction.
Some writers will not write their novel write away, they’ll spend weeks daydreaming the novel only to then write it in a few weeks’ time. If you were to ask them how long did it take you to write, they’d say a month, but what they do not tell you is they spent months daydreaming it.
HE GETS UP A 4 AM TO WRITE
You can start writing like your favorite author as a starting point and see if it worked for you. But at some point, you’ll need to find your own voice in style. But that comes with time.
Dan Brown has said he wakes up at 4 am to start his writing. Now for most people getting up at 4 am doe snot sound too appealing. Most people would like to wake up later. But if you want to be as successful as Dan Brown should you copy his style? Would it help or hurt you? Stephen King writes 6 pages a day. has lunch then goes for a walk. Comes home to read. Does this work for you or only him?
THEY ALL START OFF SLOW THEN GET GOING
The one thing most successful writers have in common is starting off slow but getting faster as they write. ( like a train) Amateur writers believe successful authors wake up sit down at their laptops and start writing a million words a minute. But in reality, they to start off slow. Only typing a few words here and there to start and slowly building up speed. Both amateurs and professionals have the same habits when they start off.
Becoming a novel writer is like learning how to sing. All new singers try to sing like their favorite singer. Billy Joel tried sounding like the Beatles and Bruce Springsteen tried sounding like Roy Orbison. It wasn’t until they sound their own voice did they finally become famous. You can’t sound like the Beatles because the music industry already has the Beatles.
SUCCESSFUL WRITERS HAVE THEIR OWN STYLE
As a writer, you can’t copy Stephen King because the world already has Stephen King’s style of writing. Every writer has to find their own style. When you read Charles Dickson or Stephen King or Dan Brown you can tell right away. At no point when reading Dan Brown do you mistake it for Stephen King. Charles Dickson does not sound like Ernest Hemingway. All writers have their own style.
In fact, Stephen King tried releasing books under the fake name “Richard Bachman” thinking no one would know it was him. But right away people started noticing the style of writing in “Richard Bachman” books sounding like Stephen King way too much. Because Stephen King has a style only he sounds like.
WRITERS WILL RECOGNIZE YOUR WORK
If any famous writer tried writing like another famous writer they would fail. Their book would suffer. If J.K Rowling tried writing like J.R.R Tolkien or George R.R Martin the book wouldn’t world. J.K. Rowling has to write her own way for the book to flow.
If a new writer tried writing like her it wouldn’t work. Everyone has to find their own writing voice. Once you come across it people will recognize it as being you.
THERE IS NO HIDDEN SECRET
Dan Brown likes to be up at 4 am to write. If Stephen king tried that he may not like it. Two successful authors both writing two different ways. If Dan Brown tries writing like Stephen King it may not work for him. So don’t put pressure on yourself to try to write like some famous. If they can’t write like another successful author neither should you.
But how do you find it? there’s no hidden secret. In reality, it comes down to time and hard work. You have to keep writing. Your voice has to come to you. Through trial and error. everyone wants the secret told to them, but in reality, all the great writers had to learn through trial and error.
NO ONE IS BORN WITH SECRET KNOWLEDGE
It’s not like writers were born with the “secret knowledge” on how to write a novel and keep it to themselves. in fact, many successful writers have written novels on how to write. Wanting to teach amateurs how to be successful. They will be the first to tell you there’s no one magic trick to be successful. They know they had to stumble their way to success.
Very few writers have ever had it easy. They will tell you horror stories of what it was like for them starting out trying to find their voice. Getting rejected along the way. Even Stephen King was rejected many times before Carrie was published.
GET YOUR IDEAS ON PAPER QUICKLY
But here are a few ideas as a new writer to apply to their novels. Do you have an idea for a new novel? Maybe you have a rough idea but not the full story. Well quickly get it all down. Don’t wait or you might forget it. Sit down at a computer (or pen and paper) and transfer every idea in point form onto the computer. This way you can come back to it all later and re-organize it into a story.
If you have countless ideas for a new novel don’t try figuring it all out in your head. It will be too much all at once. By writing it down it gives you a chance to step back and make sense.
BEING IN THE WRITING ZONE
When you do sit down in the morning to write try not to stop writing. Keep the energy flowing without distractions. Don’t stop to daydream or look things up online. The last thing you want is to stop writing and lose your main thought, where you were wanting to go. Successful writers talk about being “in the zone”. When they get hyper-focused and nothing bothers them. They get most of their writing done this way. But if anything distracts them they lose the “zone” and find it difficult to get it back.
Learning how to type without looking at the keyboard. You might make a lot of spelling mistakes at first but this is natural. The problem is if you keep looking up at your screen then back down at the keyboards you stop your flow of energy. It breaks up your writing. Stephen King stares at his screen while writing, not stopping. This gives him the chance to think of a story and write it down without having to look down at the keyboard. Which could break up his way of thinking.
YOU CAN START AT ANY POINT IN THE NOVEL
New writers feel they have to start at the beginning, page one line one. But, in reality, you can start at any point of your novel. If you have the ending in mind you can start there. You don’t have to wait until you come up with the beginning. If you wish to start in the middle you can. After you have the ending or middle written down you can then start your novel.
Don’t worry about spelling mistakes. You can always come back later and fix them. If you stop to work on them this will stop the flow of your writing.
THERE ARE A MILLION WAYS TO WRITE
There’s only one way to do heart surgery. But a million different ways to write a book. New writers will try to copy a successful writer thinking this is how you write. But in reality, it will mess you up. First drafts look horrible, any writer will tell you that. No problem, you can fix it later. When you’re finished your novel after many drafts and it’s published someone will read it and think you’re an amazing writer who got it right on their first draft. But in reality, you know it took many tries.
When you’re in a bookstore glancing at all the books on selves you believe the writer sat down wrote and completed a perfect book the first time through. But in reality everyone one of those books went through countless drafts and rewrites, taking a long time.
ALL FIRST DRAFTS ARE HORRIBLE
They’ll be the first to tell you their first drafts started off horrible but were able to fix it up with time and advice. Writing a book looks like a house being renovated. It all a mess throughout the construction period but looks amazing when finished.
Don’t burn yourself out by writing 10 hours a day for days at the start. Amateur writers will write endlessly when starting out. After a few weeks, they find it hard to get out of bed and go back to the laptop and write. They have burned out. It’s like going to the gym and working out for 4 hours every day. After a few weeks, you will stop going.
THEY WILL STOP IN MID-SENTENCE
However, most successful writers only write for 3 or 4 hours a day and that’s it. They know all about burnout, they don’t want it to happen. They know if you spend too much time writing your writing will fall apart. The next day they would have to rewrite everything. fixing the mistakes the day before.
Some writers will write for 3 hours and stop as soon as the 3 hours are up. Evening stopping in mid-sentence.
IT HAS TO BE SOMETHING THAT WORKS FOR YOU
When you do sit down to write for 3 hours do not let anything get in the way. no internet. video games, apps. tv. gossiping on the phone. It’s possible to get a lot done in 3 hours if you focus on writing for that time. However, amateur writers will spend their 3 hours daydreaming, phone calls, watching TV wondering why nothing got done. Wondering how successful authors get so much written down in a short time.
In the end, you have to find your own style. Something that works for you. Some write at night others write in daylight. Some write in crowded coffee shops others need silence.
you might be interested in these blogs…
WHICH PART OF YOUR NOVEL DO YOU START WRITING FIRST?
WHY 3 HOURS IS ENOUGH TIME IN A DAY TO WRITE A NOVEL
HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO WRITE YOUR FIRST BOOK
