posting on line will severely damage the possibility of using that or similar work in a commercial publication whether book or magazine et al you could always self publish your work free on amazon if you dont buy any of the unnecessary services the good news is that if you make it big self publishing then trad pubs will want your work and may even republish it the bad news is that it is a very long tailed phenomenon and the average sales is under 100 with many getting under 5 some never sell anything and only a very few people hitting it for ten thousand or more at 15 you still have a lot of studying to do to master the language and gain experience so you can write something that will be popular with readers i would spend more time reading the genre of work you want to write and soak up the way the successful writers are doing it so it is natural for you to use
I'm new to creative writing with any seriousness. I've always jotted stories and poems down, but this year I thought I'd really try and improve, as I have a lot I want to write about, and I enjoy doing it. I'm sure I've seen a couple of posts, can't remember who by, mentioning that they copied other authors' work for practice, although they may have used a more specific term for the exercise. Is this something people do? Does it help? Just curious to hear about your experiences.
I haven’t done that, but I’ve often thought about deconstructing other writer’s work to help me understand some of the process better. Such as planning out the plot arcs, or character profiles. At college I did film studies and spent a lot of time deconstructing films and I think this is where my interest has stemmed from. I did really well at film studies and learnt a lot by deconstructing so I think there’s value in doing the same for writing, or even for a film story.
It's definitely something people do, and get something out of, so it's probably worth trying to see if it fits your learning style. It does nothing for me, so I can't speak to that, though. It seems tedious and boring to me. Personally, I prefer just reading critically, thinking about the author's choices as I go -- copywork is an extra step. But I do tend to be good at keeping a word log in my head, so for someone who's a bit more hands-on, I can see the extra step helping with that.
Thanks for your comments. I will probably give it a try. I also read more critically at times to try and learn from other authors, and it's been quite interesting to realise that a few writers I held up as golden gods in my mind are actually doing something I feel I could aspire to, even if it takes years of practice. I've found it inspirational as well as insightful.
That sounds like a lot of work. If it works for you - fine, do it. There was a famous writer who said they've done it, worked for them obviously. I think that reading slowly does exactly the same, without getting your fingers tired typing.
I was only thinking of copying an excerpt, a scene or a short chapter. I just wanted to get a feel for whether it was a common exercise or not.
I don't know about you, but I'm a visual learner, so re-writing or plotting some sort of mind map is extremely helpful to me. Maybe this is partly why it works for others but not all! I see and understand more if it's visually there, rather than just from reading and remembering.
That’s a good suggestion, I’ll give it a try. I’ve suspected in the past that I might be a visual learner so it could be useful.
I would say it has value if you are doing it for a specific purpose. In her book, Plot Perfect, Paula Munier suggests copying out your favorite scene from a book you know well as an exercise in constructing a quality scene and setting up the action of the following scene.
I used to copy sections of The Bible out when I was a kid, and while it helped me with my religious studies, I really don't think it helped contribute much to my skill as a writer. Unless, of course you're talking about my actual physical skill at putting words on paper, in which case, probably not. My penmanship is still rather atrocious.
Sounds like good advice. I think I’m trying to improve my overall “way with words” and that isn’t a very specific goal. It’s not that I’m inarticulate, I just know my writing could be more accessible and more engaging than it is. I guess I could focus on an authors phrasing while copying. I’m not sure the biblical style of prose is all that helpful for learning to write modern fiction, although I do think the bible has literary worth, irrespective of our beliefs. I’d hope to learn from writers whose style I admire. On the other hand, if you can wittily quote the bible off hand at appropriate times after copying so much of it, that’s a good enough reason to have done it!
I have thought about doing this...I even started a thread about it. After giving it some thought I think careful reading is just as useful
As a very young child I had little schooling so I actually taught myself to write and spell by copying from books. I used to use the characters and switch up the plots from my favourite stories. And so it was all fan-fiction I guess. Then I started stealing the characters but making my own plot. I did this for years until I felt confident and found my own ideas started coming. Now I never copy anything. But I often find writing the first sentence/paragraph/ page of a new novel really tough and I find it hard to move on until it feels "right", so I would spend months re-writing one chapter. So I found myself a cheat. I pick a book from my shelf which has an opening similar to how I want mine to sound (same mood, time of day, in a woodland with a young female character whatever) And I'd just start copying it. Then my own sentences start flowing and I just go off on my own little roll. Once the story was complete I'd return and re-write the copied parts and because by that point I knew my character and my story I could write the opening with ease. I just find starting that first page stressful. It's weird. The rest of the book can be crap but my first chapter has to be good or I can't carry on.
I also find the opening a challenge, unless I for some reason conceive of the opening lines, or a rough version of them, around the same time I come up with the concept. Which sometimes happens for my short stories.
Hunter S. Thompson did this with The Great Gatsby, but he also outlined the story and carried that around with him for years. Personally, I think the outlining would be a better tack, just to understand the structure of a story you love. Copying isn't really a creative or analytic process. In the movie Finding Forrester, the titular character had his protege copy original works until he felt the urge to take his own direction from what he'd copied. It did cause problems with accusations of plagiarism, however, so it should only serve as a warm-up exercise and not something you'd release to the wider world.
Interesting points, I'll take on board your suggestions. I'm still working just on my original short story each time I come to write at the moment, and I might try and outline or even copy out a short story I really like, as this is the medium I'll probably work with for a while.
Copying word for word isn't going to do much if anything other than perhaps increase your typing speed. There is nothing creative about copying something word for word. And in fact it could be distracting to add this element to reading. Reading helps a lot. It's more likely to help you tap into your creative instincts and bring things out of you than copying texts. Seriously, I see no benefit to copying other texts. It's not something that I can really see helping a writer in any way. It sounds like a waste of time.
I get that. I will probably give it a try for myself anyway at some point to see what I can learn from it, if anything. Good to get different opinions.
It may work for someone, because every crazy technique works for someone, but I've never known a successful writer who's actually done this. There are only so many hours in a day, and every successful writer I've known got there by writing and editing the hell out of their stuff, writing more, getting feedback from people who know what the hell they're doing, rinse and repeat.
I actively do it. I devote about 20 minutes per day, getting a feel for the author's voice and learning about their narrator. On top of copying, I also highlight sentences on how they function. I have an article about it here: https://www.writingforums.org/articles/copywork-exercise-for-writers/ Here's the latest entry on my blog with regards to this exercise: https://jonmayo.blogspot.com/2018/10/scene-analysis-12-gunslinger-by-stephen.html
Yes! I do a page or two now and again from my favorite authors, and I've found that it helps with the muscle memory of writing correctly. Or more correctly, anyway. Dialogue especially! Pick a scene from a piece you like, and reproduce it. It's a nice warm up exercise.
