The concept of "stealing" from other writers and authors is something I actually think about a lot. There's this thing a lot of teenagers do, a lot of people in general do, where they act differently towards different friends and different people. They mold to the group, for better or for worse. I'm not necessarily like that socially, but when it comes to reading and writing, it applies to me completely.
If I'm reading something and I really like the way it's written, or it's style, or even the subject of the story/poem, I'll notice that for a little while my writing style will change to fit whatever I've just read. It's a way of just testing out that way of putting words on paper, of expressing an idea a little differently and seeing how it sounds. Recently I've been watching a lot of spoken word poetry, so most of my poems or stories are coming out in that sort of spoken word style, which has been something kind of cool to play around with and work on. Sometimes I get something I really like, or sometimes it feels like I'm trying a little too hard to be something I'm not. Either way, I think it really relates to what Austin Kleon was talking about in his talk. The idea of not trying to replicate people you admire, but take their basic ideas and transform them into your own. I've only noticed that I do this recently, but I think as a writer it's important to be able to draw inspiration from other people's work and remember that you don't always have to strive to be original.
This happens to me. Not just with writing, but it's that every time I read a book or watch a movie and there's a character I really like, I find myself bending myself to be just a little more like that person. I call it chameleoning--trying to make myself someone else. As a result, for a while I would like one thing, then I would be different, then something else entirely.
ReplyDeleteI've gotten better at being myself instead of these made up people, but this post reminded me of that.