Should you try to copy how other writers, especially successful writers, did/do things, their ways of working and even their “voice?” Like so many things we talk about here at the Mad Genius Club, the answer is “it depends.” Why are you changing things?

If you want to learn what, oh, Danielle Steele, or Rita Mae Brown, or Brand Thor, Stephen Koontz, Sarah Maas, or Ann Rivers Siddons does that makes his or her writing work, how he crafts sentences, or how she uses description of place, or pacing, then sure. Do it as a practice exercise, taking apart the story or excerpt, then copying that technique in a different setting or genre. Sarah H. and Dave did it with Georgette Heyer to study dialogue and characterization, as have others. I’ve done it with historians whose style I admired, to see how they tell the story or describe ideas and documents.

However, don’t force yourself to mimic someone just because “Koontz does it, and sells a lot, so I have to do it in order to sell a lot.” No. Your voice is you. My voice is slower and more antiquated than a lot of writers, and I use lots of setting description. Anne Bishop uses almost no description of place, but I suspect everyone who has read the Dark Jewels novels can tell you exactly what SaDiablo Hall looks and feels like, even if we disagree on the details. It works for her. You have a different voice than she does.

If you want to try a different approach to writing, say, using an outline instead of free-form composition, or the reverse, then I strongly encourage you to try it. Not because The Great Author does it, but as a learning experience. Dorothy Grant recommended a book about outlining and character creation to me. I tried it with Daughter of the Pearl. It was useful in seeing how to make myself think through character development and plot building. Some of what I learned I apply still, even though I returned to writing by the seat of my pants. My hindbrain associates outlines with academic writing, where I have to make an outline, hang all the reference material onto it to see what remains to be researched, then putting the full story on paper. It chokes the original side of my imagination.

What about the habits of writing, how you set up your writing space (if you have one), whether you do things long hand or on computer or dictation, when you write, and so on? Um … Wags paw. I can write with or without music, by hand or on computer, in my home office or elsewhere. Each has slightly different results, and I know what works best for extended stretches of story. Don’t leap into a change just because, oh someone who is a best seller, or makes oodles of money, does it that way.

Several years ago, there were howls of laughter when Amanda Green described a romance writer’s routine. The lady took a calming scented bath, dressed in a peignoir* and matching robe, sat at a desk in her boudoir, and only then could she write. Most of us have neither the time, nor the income, to do that. But it worked for her, and she made enough income to justify the ritual. I can’t do it, and would feel absolutely silly trying something like that. But I have pens that I prefer, paper that I prefer, a Das-brand keyboard I love, and certain kinds of music that I use to mute house sounds and help me concentrate. None of them are critical, but they help me stay focused.

Don’t change your voice, your process, or your theme just because a clinician or other writer does it s certain way. How you write is you, it is part of what sells your books. Your theme, the focus of your story, is also you. If you write about womanly, intelligent women who respect the differences between themselves and men, and work in their own ways and spheres to solve problems (like Mary Catelli’s protagonists), don’t feel obligated to change things because all the “best sellers” or a clinician says you must change.

*A very elaborate, loose nightgown type garment, often embellished with lace and other things and made of translucent material. Think 1930s film star in her robe and gown, which implied a great deal while revealing nothing.