The importance of imitation.

Always ask yourself this when making something: what is the relationship between imitation and plagiarism?

Imitation is good. That’s how you learn. From others who have done something well that you want to learn. That’s how we learn everything. Don’t run from it. We learn to be verbal by imitating. And from there on out, we either imitate or we are imitated.

But do we try to improve on, evolve, and find an original way to use that imitation as a launching point to create something different?

Something that will be worthy of being imitated.

Out loud.

When writing: speak out loud. Find the cadence, find your rhythm. Language is not always story, but it is always poetry.

Don’t just write the words. Say the words. Breath them alive with your literal voice.

Syntax versus Story.

Imitation and plagiarism have an antagonistic relationship. They contrast; they have a relationship because one is desirable and one is not.

Syntax and story have a symbiotic relationship. They complement; they have a relationship because they need each other. If you’re a narrative writer, than syntax will likely always be of, at minimum, slightly lower priority than the story itself. But just like a musician should not diminish the value of studying theory at the expense of songwriting, a writer should not diminish grammar and syntax at the expense of story.

To tell a good story, you need language that is constructed well. So treat language as music and words as craft, and let the story be carried forth upon those support beams.

Books.

You need to read. Try to not be friends with too many people who toss off remarks like “people don’t really read anymore.”

People do. You need to spend a certain core of your life around people who also read. A person is not an evil person, or even a bad person if they don’t read.

But you make sure that you spend a considerable amount of time both reading and in conversation with others who read.

More on grammar.

It’s not your place, unless you’re a teacher, proofreader, or copywriter, to go constantly correcting everyone’s grammar. Is it getting in the way of communication or in the way of a story?

That’s the first question.

Intense.

Know your tenses and points of view. Ursula Leguin, in her wonderful book with David Naimon Conversations On Writing, talks about the differences (pp. 33-39) in a delightful and concise way.

Basically, present-tense is trendy and ubiquitous and is

“…a narrowbeam flashlight in the dark, limiting the view to the next step-now, now, now. No past, no future. The world of the infant, of the animal…” (Leguin, p.35)

Past-tense works easily with time, past and future, and helps to connect events and relationships between events and across time.

Past-tense “…allows for more ready movement back and forth in time, that it more closely mimics the way our minds and memories work.” (Leguin, p.33)

Point of view.

Third-person limited gives us one person’s viewpoint and has been used successfully in many great stories throughout history.

First-person is popular and is immediate.

Third-person omniscient jumps to different characters’ perspectives and can be effective or ineffective; it can clarify or muddy, depending on how it’s used.

Five thoughts on imagination, writing, and the creative process.