Comments on: How Does a Writer Develop a Style? Quote of the Day #23 http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2007/05/10/how-does-a-writer-develop-a-style-quote-of-the-day-23/ Janice Harayda Reviews Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry for Adults and Children Mon, 20 May 2013 13:35:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2007/05/10/how-does-a-writer-develop-a-style-quote-of-the-day-23/#comment-1716 Fri, 11 May 2007 02:03:40 +0000 http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2007/05/10/how-does-a-writer-develop-a-style-quote-of-the-day-23/#comment-1716 P: Love that Emerson quote (and heard it before). Emerson is so right. A variation on his idea, which I have heard elsewhere, is that great writers are always explaining us to ourselves.

QuoinMonkey: DePaola goes on (in the part of the interview that I didn’t quote) to make almost exactly the point that you did. Observation is king. How can you write about in your own way if you haven’t looked closely what it is?

]]> By: QuoinMonkey http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2007/05/10/how-does-a-writer-develop-a-style-quote-of-the-day-23/#comment-1710 Fri, 11 May 2007 01:10:02 +0000 http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2007/05/10/how-does-a-writer-develop-a-style-quote-of-the-day-23/#comment-1710 This is the best part of Tomie dePaola’s answer: “don’t miss your drawing classes, painting classes, design classes and by all means look at everything. Go to the galleries and the museums. Your own style will surface.” Writing is a visual art form. And noticing what is around us in great detail is paramount to developing style. If we keep showing up, and noticing what is around us, our styles emerge beautifully.

]]> By: P http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2007/05/10/how-does-a-writer-develop-a-style-quote-of-the-day-23/#comment-1691 Thu, 10 May 2007 20:51:06 +0000 http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2007/05/10/how-does-a-writer-develop-a-style-quote-of-the-day-23/#comment-1691 All true. I even find it hard to read something completely through once I see the authors style. For instance, a few months ago I began Desert Solitare by Edward Abbey. As soon as I read a few pages I had to stop for a few days and write about my own experiences in the desert west.

I simply wanted to be able to say…’Yep, I know how you feel, I wrote the same idea down, my sunrise looked the same, my dry desert is like your dry desert…etc’.

It’s the Ralph Waldo Emerson Idea of: “In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts, they come back to us with an alienated majesty”.

I don’t want to read something, write something and be accussed of style copying. And doing this is my personal ‘Genius Verification’ :)

I wrote about the Secret years ago, before it was a secret. I’m telling you!

Style is something like that. I can recognize something that is *close* to my writing style, but style…is all your own.

peace,
P

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