More Tips For New Writers (Part I)Explain in your own words
Familiar phrase? Yes, we have all heard it many times in many different situations. This little phrase is used to convey subtly different meanings depending upon
circumstances in which it is used. At school, teacher means "Don’t just copy chunks out of a book; show me you can write an essay". In an examination words mean "Prove that you understand question and know answer". On an insurance claim form it means "Tell us what happened from your point of view". From a Judge it means "Tell truth without embellishment".
What do all these people have in common? They want to hear what you know, what you think about things. They don’t want something you have copied from somebody else, they don’t want regurgitated chunks of something learned by rote, they don’t want to hear somebody else’s words repeated, they don’t want to hear excuses. They want to hear what you have to say. They want honesty.
Honesty is best policy
If you want to write, you must learn to write honestly. By this I do not mean that it is essential for you to always tell unvarnished truth (this article is not about personal development: it is about writing and moral debate has no place here). I mean use your own words, your own style, your own "voice". Do not try to imitate a writer you admire. Imitation is said to be sincerest form of flattery. That may be true enough but most imitations turn out to be poor copies of original item. Make your writing real deal; don’t give people chance to say: "He’s that guy who tries to write like Stephen King". Believe me, they won’t mean it as a compliment; what they are really saying is: "He’s that guy who tries to write like Stephen King but fails and (snigger, snigger) he doesn’t realise it". Being honest has undoubted advantage that it saves you having to remember what lies you told previously. It should also make you feel good and that‘s a bonus.
There have, of course, been instances where an unknown artist has created a painting in style of a master and work had been painted so skilfully that experts declared it to be authentic. Remember, though, forger had skill of his own in first place. Whether you are forging a masterpiece or a bank note, you need to possess skill as well as appropriate tools. If you are new to writing, it is highly unlikely that you will be able to manage a convincing imitation of a famous author’s style. Indeed, you will probably find it difficult to even begin to analyse what makes a particular author’s writing uniquely personal. Writing "in style of" can be a valuable exercise for trainee writers but it should only ever be an exercise, not a substitute for authenticity. If you have what it takes to be a writer, get out there, write and make sure your fingerprints are all over your work declaring it to be yours and yours alone.
