Beachcombing
June 11, 2021

It's been many years since I last talked about copying the works of other authors[1] 
in order to improve your own prose. By copying, I don't mean trying to imitate; I
mean sitting down and actually writing out, word for word, some work by an
author you admire, for the purpose of improving your own writing. This was a
technique that was commonly used up until the end of the 19th century (and even
into the early 20th) but has long since fallen out of fashion. Yet a number of
modern writers, such as Jack London (who copied out Kipling), Hunter S. Thompson
(who copied out both Hemingway and Fitzgerald), and Joan Didion (who copied out
Hemingway) all made use of the practice.

I mentioned the technique a number of years ago, but am ashamed to say that I
never much practiced what I'd preached. Then last year, I ran into the stories
of Katherine Mansfield by way of an M. John Harrison interview[2]. I was floored 
by some of her stories and, as a writer, intrigued by the way she created the 
effects she did.

At times in my reading, I've felt like a beachcomber: I keep finding these
beautiful shells scattered across Mansfield's prose. This week, I decided to
take my own advice and began copying out a couple of her stories to see what I
could learn from them (and get a sense of the technique itself). I'm only one
story in--"A Dill Pickle"--but was noticing her methods within just a few
paragraphs. This seems like a good sign, so I'm going to continue and see how it
goes over the next couple of weeks. In the expectation I'll learn as much as I
hope I will, I've also come up with a list of other writers (including E.B.
White and James Baldwin) whose prose I admire, and am deciding which (and how
many) of their works to copy.

I'll keep you informed as the experiment progresses. In the meantime, consider
whether it may be useful to you to copy out a bit of your favorite writer to
improve your own prose.

[1] https://www.andrewgudgel.com/blog/the-sincerest-form-of-learning.txt
[2] http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/articles/interview-m-john-harrison/

(c) 2021 by Andrew Gudgel 
email: contact [at] andrewgudgel.com