First let me say that although I have written four novels, I don’t consider myself a prose writer. That said, I will do this technique I read about because it sounds like it might actually work! This suggestion comes from a book by James Frey.
1. Find a book that is well-written.
2. Copy, literally, a couple pages of that fine prose each day.
3. Write an original scene in the same style each day. If the scene you copied was about an emotional view of the countryside, write an emotional view of something or other.
4. Rinse, repeat with various books daily until you’ve got the hang of it.
Allegedly, your writing will in fact improve. I will test drive it and see how it goes.
Question: Anyone have suggestions about which books I should copy? Only writer whose prose style I remember loving was Kathe Koja.
1 Comment
October 19, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Hey Amely! I have linked to your blog from mine! Glad to have met you at the conference. Good luck with your writing!
Kim