The other day I was reading about prose styles on some website (I couldn't find it again for some reason) and the author was talking about "how to know your writing." She went on to describe her own style with quick, self-aware little quips. They looked something like: "I write like a bulldozer rolling down=the slopes of a vineyard and crashing into a ball-pit" (or something like that). It seemed like fun, so I thought I'd give it a try. At first it was pretty hard. I firmly believe that our opinions of our own writing come from the opinions of others. If you're constantly rejected by publishers, you'll probably start to think you're terrible. If your friends laud your work one-sidedly, you'll start to think you're pretty great. Even our self-perceived "niche" is subject to the influence of others. I knew a poet in undergrad who wrote grim, gothic poetry but was as cheerful as a teletubby on molly. When others started describing the chills and thrills generated by her sonnets she actively began adopting that as her style. Her happy-go-lucky collection title shifted to something grim and brooding.
It's very common for our self-image image to change if someone highlights a small quirk that you may have never noticed. Is that a problem? Of course not! Humans are social animals and we have always been the product of our environments (at least in part). Basically, it can be pretty hard to understand your own writing without the input of others.
That's why the aforementioned exercise was so hard for me. I've had a fair share of feedback from my friends and writing peers, but very few have every tried to summarize my style. So, to get a sense of things I started by generating "write like" sentences for other notable authors/poets. Here are few:
John Milton writes like heaven tuning a violin, getting frustrated, and opting to play a bass drum instead.
John Kerouac writes like gin spilling on a used car's carpet, prompting the driver to pull over, watch the sunset, and smoke a cigarette.
Matsuo Basho
writes like bright buds in straight lines
falling on flat creek
Chinua Achebe writes like the silt-colored sun lifting heavy heads, setting the tillers to work, while a woman sings her mother's songs.
Kurt Vonnegut writes like smoke streaking through a cellophane sky, snapping a power-line and making the children pause their backyard games to grow up for a while.
Neat, huh? You don't even have to know the writer perfectly to try, just have fun with it! It can be anyone too: poets, dramatists, novelists, friends, family, even other artists!
Norman Rockwell paints like Honey, come inside, it's starting to thunder. Don't forget your catcher's mitt this time; we don't want it shriveling in the rain.
I promise you'll have loads of fun coming up with these. Of course, creating one for myself is still a daunting task. I wonder if it wouldn't be better for one of my long-time readers to make one for me...hmm. Well, I've been playing with a few, even turned one into a poem!
Here's what I've got so far:
I write like colorful monsters rolling themselves around a neighborhood golf-course, waiting behind the rusty swing-set.
I write like a man with a beaker dancing a few stories up, tenuously looking over the railing at the sidewalk below.
I write like someone laughing in a kitchen chair, falling backward, hitting their head but still being okay in the end.
I write like butter browning too quickly in a pan, setting off the smoke alarm which wakes up the goblin living in my ceiling.
I'll probably make more but those are a good start. I encourage you all to try this out, it's a lot of fun and it really helps you reflect on your prose, your poetry, your work. So, how do you write? What about your favorite authors?
Comentários