Re: becoming oneself
Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Fri, 16 Jan 1998 23:30:33 -0500
> 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?
I think we try on many voices and styles, shucking one after another, until
we find ourselves -- if we are determined and more than a little lucky --
with our own voices. The bad writers simply ape other writers; some
writers (like Raymond Chandler) begin their writing lives as hacks, doing
it purely for the money, until (as an engineer frequently sees additional
improvements that can be made in a prototype) they eventually hit upon
their natural voices.
My rule of thumb is that my notebook is my place -- I do whatever I want
there, whether it means improvising paragraphs starting from someone else's
opening sentence, or writing as passage as another writer might have
written it -- for experimentation. Sometimes things emerge. Sometimes
not. That's what a notebook is good for, in my experience. For others,
there are different rules of thumb. One finds what works, then holds onto
it for dear life.
--tim