writercises | Entries tagged with imitation

Original Posting 2021/3/5

Writer's Digest, April 1991, p. 40-42, had an article by Richard Hunt talking about how to avoid formula writing. This is where the twists are ones you've seen before, or maybe you're writing just like somebody else. Overuse, imitation, it just doesn't make the readers keep reading.

The basic strategy – don't take the easy way out. Avoid easy endings, well-worn phrases, and other trite repetitions. Now, how does formula writing sneak up on you? Well, Richard Hunt suggests three ways that it often weakens manuscripts. Imitating the style of an established writer, too many descriptive passages, and those stock scenes that we've seen so many times before.

Now, a good way for beginning writers to understand pacing, plotting, and other techniques is to mimic a famous author. But, you need to find your own voice, your own rhythm, your own style.

Now, descriptions sometimes choke out the other parts of the story. Kind of like kudzu! Pick your details, and clear out the kudzu in revision. By the way, be careful of adjectives.

Finally, make sure every scene has a purpose. Avoid stock scenes. Make sure each scene is interesting, and gives the readers some new territory to cover.

So, you can change the threat of formulas into original work. Twist the ending, mix in odd pieces, borrow from other genres, boost that ordinary uninspired story into the stratosphere.

Go ahead! Take something you've written, or are writing, and see if formula writing has crept into your work. Then try Richard's ideas. Work on your style, clear out the extra descriptions, and make sure that your scenes are all working for you!

mbarker.livejournal.com

Original posting 18 July 2010

Odd...

Over here

http://www.writingexcuses.com/2010/07/11/writing-excuses-4-27-major-overhauls-to-broken-stories/

at Writing Excuses, among other things, there was a short discussion of the need for new writers to just WRITE. Write lots, and don't try to fix it up, just keep going. You need the practice.

Somewhere on

http://madgeniusclub.blogspot.com/

the Mad Genius Club, there was some discussion of fan fiction, that this was a great way for new writers to do some early work.

And I've had the occasional thought that writers, like artists, really need to start out with simple imitation. In Zen in The Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury, who is often considered quite a creative guy with a good handle on language, mentions somewhat off-handedly that he spent considerable time copying other writers.

And then Mike Kabongo over here

http://madgeniusclub.blogspot.com/2010/07/historic-fixation-and-stagnation.html

talks about the peculiar split personality that SF & F in particular have towards the question of originality. Merely a hint that something might be similar to another work often results in knee-jerk rejection. But, on the other hand, daring to actually write something original also gets rejected. We want the same, but different! Although if it is too obviously the same, well, that's no good.

It kind of seems as if we need to recognize the "training ground" use of copying, emulation, and fan fiction -- doing variations and knock-offs -- as a way to get the basics really deeply imbedded, while still recognizing the need to mix, match, and stretch the boundaries.

How should new writers learn their craft? Is writing something like the writers they read really so bad?

Current Mood: Contemplation

mbarker.livejournal.com

Original posting 5 May 2010

or maybe exercise?

Monomane -- comic imitation -- is very popular in Japan now. The man who almost single-handedly instigated the boom in it is called kuroke (pronounced more like the food -- croquette?), but another one was on TV today talking to a group of school children. He gave them three exercises to do, for ten days, and then came back to see how they had done. You might try these, yourself.

1. Imitation repertoire -- look around, and pick something. Now imitate that thing, especially the sound, but also perhaps mannerism. As he explained, you build your imitation repertoire one item at a time, and usually pick out and exaggerate some sound or mannerism from that thing. He gave the example of a cicada -- what's the sound it makes? Kind of a shshsh through your teeth? But it gets bigger and smaller -- so move your lips while whooshing, and there you go...

2. imitation play -- take everyday objects, and let your imagination turn them into other things. As he said, sometimes you have to look from the side to do this, and take two or three looks, but see what you can turn them into. His example was a vacuum cleaner... which became a metal detector as he held it, adding sound effects, and finding a coin with it.

3. Your happiness list -- every day for ten days, write down the most exciting, happy point of the day. Just one point. Something nice happens to you every day -- make a list!

When they came back, the kids showed the results. One showed how an ordinary chair became an old person's push cart, complete with slow, hesitant walk. Another showed how a pencil sharpener became an organ grinder's music box. And so on...

The kids said the happiness lists were fun -- at first, it seemed hard to find something each day, but then they started having too many things each day, and had to pick. Apparently paying attention to happiness and fun and excitement makes it grow!

So -- give yourself a chance. Even in writing, pick out something and imitate it. How can you make us feel the sound of a waterfall -- in writing? Or what about showing us the dashing happy run of a dog across the lawn? Then consider how you might use something as a simile or metaphor, turning it into something else for your reader's mental stimulation? Finally, just for fun, consider writing one short piece about something nice that happened to you today. What happened? How did it make you feel? Can you show other people that feeling of happiness and joy through your writing?

Go ahead. Imitation is the finest flattery, and sometimes it's writing, too.

Current Mood: extraneous

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Entries tagged with imitation

TECH: Escaping the Formula Trap (moldy oldie!)

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