Re: becoming oneself
Brendan McKennedy (suburbantourist@hotmail.com)
Fri, 16 Jan 1998 20:00:02 -0800 (PST)
Of course, they didn't. In fact, I suspect the impulse to
> imitate plays a big part in the formation of most artists.
> Over on the Hemingway list, as Adam will know (Adam whom
> I thank for his kind & supportive words), there has recently
> been a discussion whether or not Hemingway had the practice
> of actually copying out passages from certain writers in order
> to absorb - by a kind of magical osmosis -their techniques.
As most of you probably already know, copying the style of
another writer is actually a common writing exercise, known
as a "pastiche". It may or may not be effective, depending
upon your reasons for doing it. I personally haven't had
occasion to gain much from it, mostly because my attempts were
not very successful. On the other hand, I think my writer's
"Voice" is as much a compilation of traits I've abosrbed from
other writers as it is exclusively my own voice. Do you other
writers here find that to be true?
Brendan
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