A Zinsser day

[SamScribble]

Every year or so, I re-read some of the masters. William Zinsser was one of those masters; and today was his day.

I suspect that JBJ would agree with at least one of Mr Zinsser’s observations: ‘Writing is learned by imitation. If anyone asked me how I learned to write, I’d say that I learned by reading the men and women who were doing the kind of writing I wanted to do and trying to figure out how they did it.’

It seems to have worked for Mr Zinsser, boys and girls. And it makes sense to me.

 

[Handley_Page]

Every year or so, I re-read some of the masters. William Zinsser was one of those masters; and today was his day.

I suspect that JBJ would agree with at least one of Mr Zinsser’s observations: ‘Writing is learned by imitation. If anyone asked me how I learned to write, I’d say that I learned by reading the men and women who were doing the kind of writing I wanted to do and trying to figure out how they did it.’

It seems to have worked for Mr Zinsser, boys and girls. And it makes sense to me.

Oh, would that I had the words. . . .

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Every year or so, I re-read some of the masters. William Zinsser was one of those masters; and today was his day.

I suspect that JBJ would agree with at least one of Mr Zinsser’s observations: ‘Writing is learned by imitation. If anyone asked me how I learned to write, I’d say that I learned by reading the men and women who were doing the kind of writing I wanted to do and trying to figure out how they did it.’

It seems to have worked for Mr Zinsser, boys and girls. And it makes sense to me.

I agree. Lawrence Block recommends copying the talented writers you prefer.

 

[sr71plt]

Funny, my copy of Zinsser's On Writing Well doesn't say that you have to write erotica by imitating the writing of Raymond Chandler and calls erotica that isn't written by imitating Raymond Chandler boring crap. When JBJ writes erotica to an erotica site and is able to demonstrate that he knows what erotica is all about and can recommend good erotica writers to emulate and can demonstrate why their writing of erotica is good, I'll be impressed about the relevance of his constant "look at me" threads on writing that he dumps here on this erotica writing site. In fact, my copy of On Writing Well doesn't pound away at how everyone but Zinsser writes crap erotica.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I agree. Lawrence Block recommends copying the talented writers you prefer.

I've read that from quite a number of different authors now. Makes a lot of sense to me, coz when all's said and done, you've got to start writing somewhere, it's not just reading books on how to do it.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I've read that from quite a number of different authors now. Makes a lot of sense to me, coz when all's said and done, you've got to start writing somewhere, it's not just reading books on how to do it.

There's truth to it. Long ago I devoured Hemingway then spent several months in close proximity to the Italian town set A FAREWELL TO ARMS in, Udine, I think it was, maybe Pordenone, but I was right there where it happened. Then I went to Zaragoza, Spain where Hemingway set FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS.

A little later I sent a few chapters of my Spanish novel to Scribners, Hemingways publisher, and got back an invite to send them the completed book. My parents and brother died in quick order, and I never fin shed the book.

 

[SimonDoom]

I've read that from quite a number of different authors now. Makes a lot of sense to me, coz when all's said and done, you've got to start writing somewhere, it's not just reading books on how to do it.

It makes sense to me, too, and I also learn from authors whose writing I like but would not want to try to imitate. Hemingway is an example of such an author. You can learn a lot from his ability to evoke feelings and images without using long words, tangled sentences, and, for the most part, any adverbs. At the same time, if you try to imitate him you probably are going to end up with something that sounds like a bad parody.

I like to read Cormac McCarthy for his extraordinary creativity and ability to conjure up metaphors, but he's another example of a writer I'd like to learn from but not try to imitate.

Question: what, if any, good authors are there to imitate in the field of erotica? Or does it matter whether the author writes erotica or not?