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Part of my "improve myself as a writer" plan is taking Authors whose style I really like and trying to incorporate that in my writing and seeing how it goes. If someone does the same with mine, honestly, I'd be totally flattered.
The problem with this is that it's hard to have a style that is so recognizable that it could be copied without it also being forced and artificial. In my case, I don't think I'd recognize if someone copied my "style" because I'm not sure I even know what it is.
You can tell if someone is copying Hemingway, or Faulkner, or Cormac McCarthy. But my ideal style is much simpler and more "normal" than the styles of those authors, and therefore much less recognizable. I'm not sure exactly what an author copying me would duplicate to sound like me, even if I was the idealized, fully realized authorial version of me.
I based a lot of my style on Dick Francis. No fair for anyone else to try to use his style
One thing I hope I've learned from him is how to write so that my character have a logical motivation for their actions.That seems like a good choice, from the small sample of his stuff I've read. Some of the better suspense/crime novelists are good guides, I think, because they tend to write in a fairly clear simple style that follows the so-called "rules." You learn good habits by reading them closely and trying to do what they do. I think Elmore Leonard is like that, and turn to his writing to see how he does things. He achieves a lot in the way of characterization, suspense, action, etc. without any showy writing.
I don't try to write like him or anyone else but I use his writing as a kind of useful starting point.
I've copied Jonathan Swift and Rudyard Kipling.
Provided my boat kept ahead of theirs on the river I'd be okay with it, but if Chloe comes along with her 50,000 words a week and starts to clone me, I'm stuffed.I'm not sure how'd I'd feel. It would be arrogant to assume people would steal my style, but IF they did, how would I feel? How would you feel? (I'm not talking plots, I've written things similar to stories I never knew existed) but style wise, would you be flattered or not?
Provided my boat kept ahead of theirs on the river I'd be okay with it, but if Chloe comes along with her 50,000 words a week and starts to clone me, I'm stuffed.
One thing I hope I've learned from him is how to write so that my character have a logical motivation for their actions.
A character’s motivations can be illogical if they are “empathizable,” I believe.
Lol. I'm staying away from Arthurian stuff. You're safe. But Helmwulf is having a ball. And his spear-thanes are a bit stunned by the bodies... a sword-maiden, a shield-sister, a wife to our lord, a lady to whom, unbidden we kneel. Swore we an oath, to follow the ring-giver, 'cross ice-peaks and sand-wastes as he sought his fate. Now he has found, the dream-maiden he sought. Found his fate in a far land, serve you we shall, thanes to his lady, our spears and swords, yours to the death.... or something like that.
I always felt it 'unsporting' of the 'ring-giver' (Prince, Lord or whatever) to have a trail of 'willing' spear-chuckers, sword-wavers or whatever, to trail after him in his Search - with no prospect of a similar maiden, power, land or other reward.
One day, some skilled word-smith will tell the tale of such +hard-working SOBs.
I was thinking more about money. Dick Francis does a good job of subtly talking about money and how it drives our behavior, and I try to do the same. Sex, money and status are very intertwined. Stories where the characters think about sex and not about money and status come off one-dimensional to me. Sherlock Holmes stories are great reads, but I feel he's ultimately a comic-book character because he has no logical motivation to do what he does.A character’s motivations can be illogical if they are “empathizable,” I believe.
I was thinking more about money. Dick Francis does a good job of subtly talking about money and how it drives our behavior, and I try to do the same. Sex, money and status are very intertwined. Stories where the characters think about sex and not about money and status come off one-dimensional to me. Sherlock Holmes stories are great reads, but I feel he's ultimately a comic-book character because he has no logical motivation to do what he does.
The question was: whether you'd be offended or flattered.