Archibald MacLeish said, “A young writer learns from older writers like a boy learns from an apple orchard, to steal what he has a taste for and can carry off.”

What did he mean by this? It’s the process by which we learn to write; from the moment we start trying to write that first story. Our taste in reading mirrors our taste in writing. As young writers, we all had our heroes. Many of us still do. They are the people that we read and then say, “My God, I wish I could do it as well as he does.”

So imitation, the sincerest form of flattery as the old proverb goes, is where it starts and where it continues until we develop our own personal style. You examine how one does his descriptions, or how another does her dialog, or a third the flow of their narratives. You collect words, sentence formations, grammar, and characterization.

If you want a feel for body language, observe the people around you, or better yet, go to a play and see how the actors interpret character. They don’t just sit there speaking their lines, they move, they fidget, they run their hands through their hair, they pick up the objects on the tables. A play is better than a film for one reason: you constantly see the entire actor, not just the shots the director has chosen to give you.

Above all, seek the highest examples of your art to imitate. Ask yourself what it is that makes them so successful.



Some brief creds, a partial list

articles published in:
Movieline
Cinefantastique
Washington Post Book World
Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Drive Guide
Black Belt
Martial Arts Weapons
Monsterland
Thrust: Science Fiction in Review
Science Fiction Review

Former MPAA Accredited Journalist.
Currently Active member, SFWA, HWA