I know this is really late and I apologize. Ever since the end of October my life has been topsy turvy and has just now settled down. Sold the house, had a 2-day moving sale, packed up everything in the house and moved. When we took out packed belongings at the new, much smaller dwelling, we found ourselves settling items in different spots we never thought of. Well, it was either that or tossing things we really didn't want to part with.
If you celebrate special holidays in your life, more than likely you make use of the same decorations year after year - changing out the old ones from time to time after catching a clever idea in a magazine or in a store display. Similarly, a writer's work is heavily influenced by what we see and read too, even if we don't realize it.
I read an intriguing article "Old Books > New Books" by Lance Schaubert on Writer Unboxed the end of November in regards to the above paragraph. And I find myself agreeing with him. According to Lance, "Everything you create is not true creation... We're makers." We authors are just taking a different spin on an idea already out there. Making the old new again.
By now most of us are familiar with the classics. We recognize quotes from Shakespeare, movies, plays, and the bible. We think about the protagonist and antagonist in various stories of old and pick up a thread here or there from them to tie our story up into a bow.
My fifth novel, which I hope will be out in the spring, refers to a house in Duluth that looks like it's from the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. Since I finished writing the novel, I've read two books referring to houses looking like that. The most recent reference found in Sue Grafton's book U is for Undertow.
Maybe you've referred to a quote from one of Shakespeare's plays only to discover another author referred to the same thing. According to Lance's article, Shakespeare borrowed 60% from the great writers living before him. Pretty amazing isn't it? Even famous writers borrow from others.
In the end of Lance's article he says if you haven't read certain books in your field of writing you probably don't know your field. I believe in one of my other topics I suggested that you read, read read other authors works whenever you can. Especially top notch authors from different eras. For mystery authors Poe, G.K. Chesterton and others were mentioned. Some, on Lance's list of suggestions, I hadn't even heard of, but I definitely plan to check them out. Who knows, a new idea might spring to life for me from a glimpse into their written words.
Have any of you ever seen something in someone else's writing that you've used in your own stories? Would love to hear from you on that subject.
In the meantime, have a safe holiday no matter what you're celebrating and I'll try to do the same down here in sunny Florida.
Until Next Time
This is Marlene Chabot
Mystery Author
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