Okay, I am always looking out for good writing advice so I can put it into practice to help my own writing. Lately I have been taking advice from Holly Lisle and Justine Larbelestier. Today, in my email inbox, I found this piece of advice from the mailing list for Holly Lisle:
Find five books published within the last year or two that you
have absolutely loved. Buy slaughter copies of them, a pack of
highlighters, and a couple of cheapo spiral-bound notebooks,
and start tearing each book apart. In one color, highlight
every bit of dialogue that you love.
In a second color, highlight every bit of description
that you love.
In a third color, highlight every bit of action that
you love.
In the notebooks, take your favorites of each of those scenes,
and start copying them. Word for word. Copy until the urge
to change things kicks in. When it does, change to your
heart's content.
Do this until the stuff you've changed reads as smoothly
as the original copy---it won't take anywhere near as long
as you think. You'll catch voice and nuance, rhythm, word
choice, and much more, and make them your own. This won't
make you a clone of the person whose work you've modeled.
It will just break down some barriers that have been keeping
you in one place.
We learn to be original by imitating, and then by adapting,
and finally by walking on our own. This copybook technique
simply shortcuts the process.
I think that this is fantastic advice. I will be doing this when have sorted out the writing for my OU assignment (the music and philosophy are still foxing me).
