Mimicry Exercises

Something that keeps coming up as a way to strengthen one’s writing voice is mimicry. I resisted the idea for some time, then tried it out. Sort of. I wrote out a page or two of a favourite writer to get a feel for how she was handling things. I discovered all sorts of things I hadn’t picked up as a reader or as a reader reading as a writer looking for clues. It was a valuable exercise. However, I haven’t tried true mimicry. It seems like it would be really, really difficult.

However, the universe seems to have a different idea. It keeps bringing mimicry up. I can’t ignore it any longer. That would just be rude. Plus, a piano could fall from the sky.

Here’s what literary consultant Jeffrey Moores had to say about it during his April 29th AQ chat. He said:

Mimicry is one of the best exercises in writing — read three pages of Alice Sebold, then write one page in Alice Sebold’s voice. Do this daily with a different writer, and see how your prose is affected in the long-run. Don’t try to write blindly. “Feel” others writing and emulate in order to explore.

At the time, I sort of shrugged it off, as yes, I tried typing out a few pages of my favourite chick lit writer, it was good, imitating someone’s style seems too difficult. Take too much time. Lots to do…balh, blah, blah.

Then the universe hit me again. This time through James N. Frey and his book “How to Write a Damn Good Mystery”. Here’s how he sells the exercise:

Every day when you sit down to work, you take a good prose a writer’s work and you copy it. That’s right, you type it out, word for word. Do two or three pages: You will not only get a feeling for how good stylists use words, you will feel the timing and rhythm of their prose and the snap, crackle, pop of their dialogue. Next, write a page or so in imitation of what you’ve just typed. That’s right. If you’ve just typed an outdoor scene with a lot of action, you write an outdoor scene with a lot of action, trying your best to write it in the style of the piece of writing you’ve just copied. After a while you will find you can imitate this style at will; now try another author and another, until you can imitate various styles and voices any time you like…And soon you will find your own distinctive voice.

This week, I’m going to give it a whirl. I’ll keep you posted on what I discover. Want to try it too?