Sure, I think it's harder than one could imagine
I have been influenced by so many authors, that I find myself trying to imitate, to copy, to write like !
And it, naturally, won't work, and will lead you to disppointment !
Maybe you have to pass through this before you forge your own style, freed from this tendancy of mimesis !
I would like to know your opinion about it !
Hello, Mehdi
This was my problem when I began writing. I read everything I could get my hands on (as most 'guides' say new writers should); and wound up with many different voices playing in my head while I was trying to establish my own. It was a demoralising experience because the voices of the authors I liked the most ‘sang’ to me, but when I read my work it was tuneless.
It has taken a long while to get to the place where the words I put on paper sound like me. I had a very real thrill when I hit the right note. And quite the opposite when I didn’t.
In short, everything and everyone influences us whether consciously or subconsciously. I think as writers, we need to learn to tune out the noise that strangles our voice. An important part of this is not to try to emulate another writer’s voice/style. Read their work, like their work…and then ask: How would I write this?
Regards and good luck. It WILL come.
Mehdi,
However hard one tries, it's very difficult to copy other author's style of writing. Ideas may be copied or more correctly, stolen. But imitation of the style is very difficult.
ravi
My first book is a memoir so just kind of came from inside. However, the fiction side of things is very different. I had no intention of writing fiction until I had a succession of strange dreams. I think as long as you feel it, your own style come through.