Fill in The Bubble (02/22/10)

High school edition: The best piece of advice I heard during a Highland Park Literary Festival workshop was _____________.

By Dan Koller Feb. 22, 2010 | 7:00 am | 2 Comments | Comments RSS

Topham Beauclerk @ February 22, 2010 at 1:17 pm

Per Tobias Wolff: It’s ok for young writers to imitate other writers they like. Student musicians listen and try to recreate other artists’ recordings all the time; student painters go to museums to copy great works. Writers are no different. Starting off, you can do worse than studying and trying to pick up styles of great authors. In time, you’ll develop your own style and voice.
DemBones @ February 22, 2010 at 4:55 pm

Interesting advice since his semi-autobiographical protagonist in Old School was accused of plagiarism. He may have examined closely the line between imitation and copying.(Or, as Tom Lehrer would say, “research.”)