We almost always think of the effects of other people on our writing as a “bad” thing. We think we are plagiarizing, or not having original thoughts, if we use others’ thoughts, opinions, writing. This is not so! We don’t live in a vacuum. We are not separate from everything else. All the writers and thinkers who came before us, and the writers and thinkers who share our times now, color our writing.
If you want to write well, you must read well. Fall in love with other authors’ work, and yes, let their words enhance yours. Their writing will only make you bigger.
Here’s an exercise to try, called “Springboarding” which can help if you feel stuck, flat, or stale. Find a poem that resonates with you, which has lines that give you an emotional charge. Take one of those lines and use it as the first line in a paragraph. Often it’s that blank screen or page that defeats us. We need a boost to get going and begin. Using another author’s words can be an enormous help in this. Take a line of someone else’s, and go on from there, stream of consciousness style. The rest will be yours, and you can edit out what’s not yours later if you decide to keep it. At the very least, these “energy” words that you already know awaken you, will give zip to your writing.
Here’s a springboarding exercise I did, using the last line in a poem by Chief Dan George from My Heart Soars. The last lines of the poem are: “Take care, or soon our ears will strain/ in vain to hear the creator’s song.” My paragraph reads:
Hear the Creator’s song, for she is singing to you. The Quakers say, “All He has is thee,” and they know what they are talking about. The Quakers have a long history of putting their spiritual beliefs into action, especially political action. They know that words without action are dead, and that faith without works means nothing. They not only know how to sing, but also dance the Creator’s song.
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