Daily Writing #27: Imitate, Then Innovate
Look at how the writers you love are doing things, and then copy them. I’m such a believer in copying. When I was teaching writing, I used to say: “Leave off this paragraph of an Elizabeth Bowen story; write the next paragraph.” And they all thought that they were copying Elizabeth Bowen. It didn’t sound like her at all. It sounded like them, but... See more
Mason Currey • Seek funny leaps
"People feel lost when there are no clear models to show them what to feel or what to experiment with. I heard once that there are three stages in an artist’s search. One is imitation—imitating everything that you think is cool and groovy, and you want to identify with. Then once you imitate, you take those imitations and you experiment with
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The etymology of the word “imitate” is one of my favorites. During the time of Shakespeare, the word “ape” meant both “primate” and “imitate.” Perhaps the etymology indicates that knowledge of imitation is core to who we are.3