How To Write Better Through Modeling
Ever heard of the process called modeling? We don’t mean that Tyra Banks show with all those hot, tall and awkward-looking girls. Not that we disapprove of hot girls – it just has nothing to do with what we’re talking about.
For the purposes of writing, modeling refers to the process of using other people’s work to get a good grasp of how you’re supposed to do your own. Want to turn out books like Stephen King, for instance? Then use his novels as your model. Find out what makes them tick, understand how he builds characters, figure out how he sets up scenes and do the same for your own writing.
Writing is considered by many as a process of problem solving. Say, you have an idea, a thought or an opinion. With writing, you’re supposed to produce a clear and readable text that details its intricacies, so that the reader may understand your point of view.
This is a complex process, one that many young writers are ill-equipped to manage on their own. How do they learn? By reading other people’s work, observing how they present things and mimicking the paths they took to arrive at their results. If you can find a book or a piece detailing the process of a particular writer you want to emulate, then that’s akin to a treasure find. That means you can study how they plan, how they formulate their drafts, how they revise material and how they incorporate creative writing tools to arrive at their desired products. To model them, try doing the same and see if you can arrive at similar results.
Modeling, for the most part, is a means to an end. Most writers don’t find their own voice until well after producing a voluminous amount of words. Taking to your writing using others as a basis is a great way of helping you get there fast, so don’t let yourself be stuck at that point where the only work you produce is a mimicry of your idols. It’s fine in the meantime, just know there’s an original writer inside you aching to come out – eventually.