Who Do You Wish You Could Write Like?

That's basically the simplicity of the question.

OH, and WHY?

I wish that I could write like Nick Hornby. He's so funny, and emotional, and true all at the same time. His characters are very well drawn and I can always find some piece of myself inside each and every one of them. I wish I could tell a story the way he does. I wish I could make it funny and sensitive, and I wish that my characters were that universally comforting.

 

I wish I could write like Iain M. Banks. Not Iain Banks, just the Sci-fi side of it. He can lay in a massive backstory, compelling characters and an intricate plot that leaves me breathless. To write like him would be absolutely amazing.

 

So many.

Jane Austen. Stephenie Meyer. JK Rowling. Charlotte and Emily Bronte. Their styles are all so incredible, if I could mix and mash them all together and make that style my own, I would.

 

Ray Bradbury, George R. R. Martin, C.S. Lewis, Guy Gavriel Kay...
They've all got a wonderfully flowing prose that is truly a treat to read, I've found.

 

no one but myself!

while i enjoy reading the work of many great writers, i sure don't want to write like anyone other than me... why would writing like someone you're not be a good thing?

 

Well Mammamaia, of course you style is your own, but there has to be something in other's writing that you would like to have in yours. Maybe you wish your characters were as intuitive and adventurous as Mark Twain, or maybe you wish you could be utterly depressing and soulful like Mitch Albom, maybe you just wish you could rhyme like Dr. Seuss.

There has to be something.

 

Why? Why must there be identifiable influences?

 

Large I understand what you are saying, however there does come a point in some of our lives when we really don't care about emulating a soul, where wemight forego the success of a King or Rowling and simply look to be our unique selves. I think this may be what Maia and Cog are speaking about. If you reach this stage, and not everyone does, then you truly don't care to be influenced anymore.

~R

 

I agree with your statement, but I think when you're starting out as a writer--and even after you've found your own style--you wonder what it would be like to write like your favorite authors.

 

I wish I could write like Victor Hugo. I love the way he writes. It's up front, but at the same time, it's not. At least, I think so.

 

I write because I have yet to read a story that has a style of writing perfectly tailored to my preferences. Sure, I also write because I have ideas I want to get out, but I could do that by drawing, writing music, making movies (I do hope to make directing a hobby someday soon, but that's another story)... The main goal of my writing is to satisfy my inner reader in ways that no other author ever has. With that in mind, why would I ever dream of writing like one of those less-than-completely-satisfying authors?

Of course, that's not to say that I don't enjoy reading other people's work, or that my writing style is perfect. Far from it.

 

I wish I could incorporate the amount of detail and back story into my writing as JK Rowling does. That's something that has always impressed me about her.

 

I know, she's so detailed! She describes everything so perfectly that whenever I crack open any HP book I'm instantly wherever the story is.

 

George pisses me off. Kills off all the cool guys, I mean... leave some of them for god's sake.

 

Pretty much

Rather then writer like anyone, id rather be able to focus and pump our my minds thoughts like koontz does. Ever time i look away he has more stuff out. (Though i doubt the quality of most his stories these days), i still respect the man's dscipline.

 

Philip Pullman in The Scarecrow and His Servant.

He's funny.

 

Phillip K. Dick, Hunter S. Thompson, or Tom Wolfe. All three of them have influenced me greatly as is.

 

Cornelia Funke, of the Inkeart serie. I really like her style.

 

Hemingway, for the impossible things he can do with so few words (Old Man and the Sea, anyone?).
And Katherine Mansfield - like Virginia Woolf said, her's is the only writing I've ever been truly jealous of. The way she creates characters that you love or love to hate, and the way she can write so clearly and yet elicit all this ambiguous tension, and the richness of her stream of consciousness style....just everything about her.

 

I want to be to writing what Van Gogh was to painting.

 

I want to be able to write well. That's it.

 

Alas, wishing is time wasted. If someone wants or needs these qualities in their writing, and if they have the necessary talent and experience, they can certainly achieve what you have mentioned without 'wishing' to write like anyone else.

 

I wish I could write like Stephanie Meyer or Sarah Dessen. Mostly because of how they draw in the reader, and their stories (Dessens, not a vampire like Meyers) applies to a real life teenage. Like me.

But I also appreciate my own style and I hope, JUSTR MAYBE my books can be as popular as theirs someday. Gotta believe in yourself.

 

I love Sarah Dessen.

 

I'd like to think my style is influenced by Robin Hobb, Iain M. Banks and Frank Herbert, among others. Hobb and Banks both make books flow so well, and read so easily, that there's a lot to be envious of, while Herbert had that knack of detail and subtlety that is so rare and hard to come by.