HEARING VOICES??
Does this happen to
anyone else- you are working on your own book and suddenly, you discover that
the book you’re reading gets stuck in your brain? It changes your ideas or even
your language! I don’t mean in the way a new idea can grow from others, but as
an unwanted guest who won’t go away. I am so aware of how influenced I am by
the things I read. My internal voice can change, my characters’ voices change, the
way I see my own story can even change.
This presents a
problem since I am a bookworm. And I always have to be reading something. I
have discovered that some books are more invasive than others. It has little to
do with the quality of the writing or even the characters or setting. Some
genres just seem to be more intrusive than others. Tragedies demand an
emotional commitment and linger darkly. Sagas demand attention to a multitude
of characters who are all evolving. Some modern and post-modern writing can
demand tremendous effort just to read. What I have found is that mysteries,
detective stories, and the like, are the best because they create a world in
which something happens and is solved, the end. For some reason they don’t
intrude as much as more complicated or esoteric tomes. And I can reread (yes, I believe in rereading)
some, like Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next books, over and over and always find
something new. I don’t know why but they engage in a particular way that is
both fulfilling and isolated from my own work. You can get lost in a good book
without finding you’ve taken the book back with you when you’re in your own
book again.
-eden
I tend to think up some great line...and then realize I've used it already in another book or manuscript.
ReplyDeleteI know EXACTLY what you mean!At least it was yours, though, and it's still great.
ReplyDeleteThere's debate about the greatness. :)
ReplyDeleteI've noticed over the years authors that are partial to certain words and phrases. I wonder how much they notice this themselves or how much their editors catch on. I suppose writing over a lifetime would either blind us to our favorites or make them very obvious.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Blogger messed up my previous comment...
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the mysteries, Eden.
Very sneaky pun re Jasper Fforde and "lost in a good book." Kudos!!