How to Improve Your Writing Style (by Imitating Your Favorite Authors)

If you want to flex your writerly muscles, try imitating the style of your favorite authors via echo exercises. This writing exercise only takes about 35 minutes and contains three parts: Echo, Reflection, and Imitation.

Echo exercises are a way to explore new approaches to crafting sentences, setting the scene, and introducing characters. Each vignette you put to paper will give you a clearer picture of your unique style.

1. Echo

• Choose a book or short story you admire or even an acclaimed novel you haven’t read yet. You can select a text based on how much it resembles the tone you’re aiming for in your work-in-progress. For example, if you’re writing a horror story with an old-fashioned writing style, you might choose a short story by H.P. Lovecraft.
• Look at the opening pages. If you don’t have the book on hand, you can go to Amazon or Google Books to find a preview.
• Set a timer for 15 minutes, typing every word and comma as you read aloud. Reading aloud is a crucial part of this exercise because it allows you to hear the rhythm of the words. Instead of mindlessly copying the text, you’re engaging with it on an aural level and letting the musicality of the prose seep into your mind.