Check out this helpful post from the Novelty Revisions blog on the Sponge Effect: when you can’t help but write using someone else’s voice.
Every writer brings something unique to a story. The reason two people can’t tell the same story the exact same way is because each does so in their own voice, using their own style.
Have you ever noticed that, whenever you read someone else’s work, you start writing like them? All of a sudden you’re writing as if someone else has taken over — even when you don’t mean to?
I call this the “sponge effect.” It’s not uncommon to absorb the voice and writing style of the things you’re reading, especially as a newer writer. That’s because every writer’s unique style develops from picking up bits and pieces of various styles and putting them together to create something new.
So, in a way, it’s a good thing.
It’s also really annoying. You don’t want to necessarily write like your favorite author. You want to write like … well, you.
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