This may be the most bizarre query you've ever had - but please bear with me. I'm currently taking an online creative writing course and my latest assignment involves emulating my favourite author, The problem is that I'm not sure I have a favourite author - certainly not one whose style I would like to adopt.
The style I like best is a sort of lyrical prose. The best example I can think of to describe it would be Galadriel's voice over in The Lord of the Rings when she tells the story of how the rings came into being. A short quote:
"The world is changed. I taste it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost; for none now live who remember it. It began with the forging of the great rings: three were given to the Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings."
The trouble is that this is not taken from Tolkein but is Fran Walsh's composition for the screenplay. Nonetheless I love the sound of it. Does anyone know of any author of fiction who writes in a similar style?
I'd be very grateful for any help.
Isn't the issue here that you'd be emulating a style rather than an author? An author can approach an array of subjects while their writing is like a fingerprint and recognisable from the outset. I appreciate that you don't have a favourite author- many of us don't- but I would imagine the object of the assignment is to recognise a personality and style in the author's writing and mimic such, being able to explain subsequently what it is that you like about the way they write. Perhaps you could consider emulating an author whose book you have read more than once? Or how about the author of the last book that you really enjoyed and recommended to others? Could you turn the assignment on its head and emulate an author that you don't like, thereby using the assignment as a critical way of exploring Writing style in a more objective way?
I like that you don't have a favourite author, it suggests that you have eclectic tastes and that your mindset is firmly concentrated on your own style of prose that you haven't come across in your reading. Well done you for being on a creative writing course, that's impressive.
I too really enjoyed The Only Light and highly recommend it.
Hi. Thanks for your really helpful advice.
I believe I’m overthinking it so I’m going to stop fretting and just write it. I absolutely take the point that lyrical prose doesn’t fit the bill for every situation and I certainly wouldn’t want to write (or to read) that style exclusively. Rather, I got a little caught up by Fran Walsh’s interpretation and would love to have the skill to do that. I have been looking for, but not finding, similar styles in published fiction.
By coincidence, I have ust acquired "All the Light we Cannot See" and look forward to reading it.
All this – just for one course assignment. Pull yourself together, girl, and just do it. :-)
What sort of books do you tend to read most? I think it would be easier to write in a style you are familiar with, and enjoy. If you really liked lyrical prose, you would probably have read loads of books in that style and be very comfortable with emulating it.
If not...what's on your bedside table?