What author's writing style have you adopted or who do you write like in a similar style? I love Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but I probably more of a Carver of Faulkner in terms of my prose. What authors have influenced you? Can you see traces of their style mixed in with your own? This could be fun, I think. But the last thread I started got no responses. Maybe everyone's blocked me. LOL. But, really, I think it would be interesting to see into the style and influences of our writing styles.
It depends entirely on what I'm writing. Some of my more whimsical Fantasy work has a certain Terry Pratchett vibe. I seem to have been copying him since before I got acquainted with his writing. Those same works tend to have, perhaps, in places, a very slight Mervyn Peake-ish character. My more serious (but not quite serious) Fantasy often has Joe Abercrombie type qualities. Apart from that, I don't know, it's anyone's guess how I'll write a given story. ETA: It's not that I'm trying to mimic anyone, you understand. I just try to be true to my own voice and the needs of the story.
I'm not trying to mimic anyone, though, I wish I could and pull it off. But I think there are similarities in style that even well-known author have amongst themselves. I think everyone probably writes in a similar way of sorts to other people. For fun, I just thought it would be interesting to see who people (at least kind of) write like.
You're right about even famous writers sharing style. I would say that my writing these days, or at least my WIP most closely resembles the generation of writers obviously influenced, in turn, by Stephen King, i.e. Joe Hill, Peter Clines, etc. I've read a great deal of King, and he's definitely a factor, but I'm taking more cues from more recent players. Every short story I've written was an experiment in style, so God only knows on that front. The kids books I've been writing are easier to pin down. While I was initially inspired by Dr. Seuss to try my hand at children's verse, the result is far more like a longer form, less abstract Shel Silverstein. I realize I've just invoked the names of the two greatest lyrical children's writers of all time, so please lower your expectations before you pick up anything I've written. Still, these gross, irreverent kids' books I'm working on constitute some of the easiest, most natural and (probably) best stuff I've written. Once I realized who the closest corollaries were - friends made the comparison before I even thought of it - I suddenly had gold standards I could reference if I had a question about how something is "normally" done, which is very liberating. Before, I would have fretted alone and wasted a lot of time on nothing problems, like when to break form for emphasis or just how far I can take something before it's no longer appropriate or easy enough for kids to read. It's different enough not to be too derivative, I think (I hope,) but people definitely see the influence.
Man, I dunno if my style really resembles that of any other particular writer at this point. Mainly because I don't actually read as much as I did in my younger days - most of my inspiration is from anime, movies, games, music and so on. I've been trying to rectify that lately by getting back to actual books, thought it's a slow process. Honestly, I'd be thrilled to find an author whose style is a close match for my own tastes so I can learn from them, but so far I haven't found one. (I basically want to write lighthearted fantasy with a comedic tone, though not to the point of being parody or satire, à la Pratchett.)
Wish I could help you out, but all the "Fantasy with a comedic tone that isn't Pratchett" I know is nevertheless pretty grim (Abercrombie, Lawrence, Lynch etc.)
Yeah, see, that's a bit of a problem I have with fantasy these days - too grim and serious. My aim is basically to bring some cheer and optimism to the genre. Closest thing I've found was T.H White's The Once and Future King, which admittedly was kinda amusing at times, though still not quite right stylistically speaking.
I don't think I've ever come across the kind of Fantasy you seem to describe. But then I do tend to seek out "grimdark with a witty edge". I'm wondering what you'd make of the novel I'm writing right now, which is kind of Pratchetty but probably a fair bit lighter on the parody/satire.
I was flattered to be about par with Clive Barker. Though I write more like that one guy, you know, that guy...ah whom I kidding I don't write like nobody.
He did write Monstrous Regiment, which I recall had a much more serious tone than most of his other Discworld novels, most likely due to the subject matter. I believe I found it... "tonally odd", I guess? Though part if that may have been my own expectations, not sure. Grimdark with a witty edge, huh? A bit off topic, but I don't suppose you're already familiar with If The Emperor Had A Text-To-Speech Device?
I've tried to mimic different authors. Stephen Donaldson, Stephen King, Jack Vance, Isaac Asimov, Terry Pratchett come to mind. That's when I'm deliberately trying to mimic them, but when I'm not, I'm not sure who I write like.
I'm working my way through Discworld now. Haven't read Monstrous Regiment yet, but Snuff has a distinctly darker tone than what I'm used to. If The Emperor Had A Text-To-Speech Device, no, never heard of it, but I get this sense that we're talking nothing less than the God-Emperor of Mankind here, AKA that dude from 40k.
Hi there, I read one story of yours in the workshop where you cited Jack Vance as an influence. Sorry, I kind of forgot/postponed making with the critique, but I will, one day, be good and remind me, won't you?
Sure! There are two. The first one is here: https://www.writingforums.org/threads/a-tale-of-a-dying-earth.163486/ And the follow up is here: https://www.writingforums.org/threads/rufins-journey-part-1-2253-words.164019/
Yep. Rufin's Journey, that's the one. It'll take me some time to formulate a proper critique, but [spoiler alert] I liked it.
Writing partners have at times compared my writing to Andrzej Sapkowski and Dmitry Glukhovsky. Don't know if that still holds, because I've evolved quite a bit since those times. Blunt and (hopefully) honest, no wasted words; that's how I try to write. I started out hugely admiring the writing of Lois McMaster Bujold, and I suppose I tried to emulate her in the very beginning. I outgrew that as well.
Ah yes. Snuff is that one Pratchett novel I haven't made it through. I started it, but that was just around the time I plain stopped reading books for some reason. That's precisely what it is. More accurately, it's a series of videos that affectionately parody WH40K by mercilessly making fun of it. (Created by a countryman of mine, incidentally.) It currently stands at 49 episodes and you can find all of it on Youtube. At this point it updates only about once or twice a year but it's well worth the wait every single time because it just keeps getting better. Seriously, I don't even particularly care for WH40K, but I absolutely love that series.
Yeah, you know, I have this vague inkling that I once saw something (Swedish?) to that effect. Are the videos in Swedish? Then I could just about stand to watch them.
Oh, they're in English. Pretty good English, actually. Come to think of it, they really have surprisingly good voice acting.
I tend to hear a voice when I am writing (not Smeagol mind!). Rob Inglis is a favourite. It lends a warm, smooth and clean style. That said, his voice faded out of my head after the first couple of chapters. Even those chapters have been rewritten so there is little trace of him or Tolkien left in my work, save some elves. I like to think that they help cast the boat out across the lake and now I steer my own course. 1st person reading, Stephen King and Markus Zuzack. Other p.o.v, Rowling, Tolkien, G.R.R Martin I read the sacred scroll by Wilbur Smith once and that was lush and I think that had a significant influence on my style too. I can see many writers voices in my own.
I wish I wrote like Octavia Butler or Arthur C. Clarke. Theirs is a style and voice composed of direct, pragmatic writing. I think I write more like Anne McCaffrey or MZB or Julian May. They made up a large portion of my younger reading. I sometimes fall into Anne's hokey tweeness and lines that are just the wrong side of precious (in its negative meaning). I certainly feel MZB's tendency to slip from Science Fiction to Soap Opera and back again. Julian May's love of the past has always been with me. Some of that isn't necessarily bad, but... I'm still finding the mix that makes me happy.
I think every writer should write using his own style of writing. Adopting to someone else style doesn’t lead to a creative writing. Being influenced by someone else style could happen as a result of reading a lot for the same author who we admire most. However, the more we use our own style and own words and express our own ideas and thought, the more creative our writing will be.
At the risk of sounding arrogant, I sound like myself. Or like a better version, because when I'm sitting at the computer writing I'm more confident and clear, rather than having to be concerned with social niceties and how I come across. I've just gotten to the point where I know myself and what I'm about, probably due to so many years of writing fanfiction. There's no one to imitate in that realm. That being said, I think I'm at least a little influenced by G.K. Chesterton and his sense of irony in writing. Not that I necessarily reach his quality of voice.
Writers who I admire and read quite a lot of work by are Sam Beckett, Tom Stoppard and Sartre. I was actually told in a rejection letter that my particular story I submitted was like a ‘retelling of a Tom Stoppard play’ but I was unsure what to think of that. I think realistically, it’s obvious when someone tries to write like another author so I try not to do that at all.
