It’s been said many times that imitation is the highest form of flattery. All artists, visual, theatre, music, and even literary, have to start somewhere, and studying and copying the art of their favorite masters is a good place to start. But, copying a writing style and then publishing what you’ve copied is a dangerous trend. We, as writers, all need to learn our craft by studying the works of others. But we also need to find our own writer’s voice and use it. Remember, what works for your favorite author is not going to work for you.

Reading is important to all writers. Why? Well, if we don’t, or can’t, read, how can we possibly know how to craft our own stories? I recently heard someone suggest that a good writer should read at least twice as much as they write. And, a good writer needs to read many different genres, not only to prevent the pitfalls of potential copying (and possible, inadvertent plagiarism) but also to make sure that there is more than one voice of influence.

That’s not to say that imitation is a bad thing. There are many beginner’s writing courses and guidelines that actually suggest writers start by copying, word for word, someone else’s work. Imitation in any art form is an excellent way to hone one’s technique, to strengthen your skills. In writing, the exercise of copy work, actually copying someone else’s writing, by hand into a notebook, then highlighting sections you like and even editing it, can be a useful technique to start the writing process as well as to improve it. However, as always, there are pitfalls to this process. At what point does the writer’s mind start to believe that what they actually copied is now their own written work?

Helen Keller fell into this pitfall. Blind and deaf, Keller, in 1892, sent a story she wrote to the Perkins Institution in Boston. “The Frost King” was published and received high acclaim. It was soon discovered that “The Frost King” was very similar to another story, “The Frost Fairies” by Margaret T. Canby. The story had probably been read to Keller, via fingerspelling. With her impeccable mind that remembered so much, it is easy to understand how such a mix-up could happen. Unfortunately, now accused of plagiarising the story, Keller lived the rest of her life in fear of accidentally plagiarising another story. Therein lies the pitfall of copying someone else’s work, even if for the sole purpose of doing a writing exercise.

We all have writers we admire for one reason or another. And, perhaps, these writers have a technique we wish to adopt or somehow incorporate into our own writing skills. I have quite a few authors I admire, for different reasons. For example, I love the power of descriptive narrative used by Anne Perry. Her ability to describe a scene using all the senses makes the reader really feel like they are actually there. John Grisham is another good author for describing not only scenes but situations. And, of course, his immense knowledge of U.S. law (he is a lawyer, after all) gives him great insight into the inner workings of the legal system, something he describes with the intensity and commitment to detail that only a lawyer could do effectively. Then there’s the historical novelists, Sharon Kay Penman and Tracy Chevalier (among others), who can take the reader back in history with such incredible accuracy and attention to detail, without the dull, hum-drum of a history lesson, that the reader actually learns something.

Another technique I admire is Cathy Reich’s bullet points, incomplete sentences listed in a specific order to punctuate the mounting tension. Jodi Picoult introduced me to another technique I have found useful. She uses multiple points of view, highlighting each chapter with the character’s name who is providing his/her perspective on the narrative. Other authors have used both Reich’s and Picoult’s techniques, and I have learned from each of them.

The important thing in writing is to find our own writer’s voice. Yes, we need to read and to learn from the masters, but it’s important to read a wide variety of styles and genres so we aren’t trapped in the perspective of a single author’s influence. If we write in someone else’s style totally, we’re not being true to ourselves or our writing. Studying the work of others is a stepping stone, one we can use effectively if we remember to maintain our own personal perspective, our own style.