An easy way to learn to write like Lev Tolstoy

What does Pablo Picasso have to do with it?

More precisely, Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuseno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Ruiz and Picasso. Hell, I couldn't deny myself the pleasure of writing his entire name!

What do we know about him?

A great man, the founder of Cubism, the most "expensive" artist in the world. For example, his work "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" was sold in 2013 for $ 155 million!

Talent and genius? Undoubtedly! Originality itself? Uh-uh, not really.

It is reliably known how exactly Picasso developed his unique style. His father, art teacher Jose Ruiz Blasco, believed that real mastery comes only after long hours of copying the great masters of the past. Little Pablo copied a variety of artists. I am sure that this is where his unique style came from.

Bad artists copy. Good artists steal. Pablo Picasso

Picasso copied this:

And this:

And in the end I drew this (at the cost of $ 155 million):

Do you see the similarities? Me not.

Other great masters who learned to copy

Besides Picasso, hundreds of famous people started by copying. Of other artists, this is van Gogh and Michelangelo, for example.

And if you go back to writing, then there are plenty of examples here as well. Benjamin Franklin learned to write by manually rewriting newspaper articles he liked. Shakespeare and is accused of plagiarism at all.

It is worth mentioning separately Dan Kennedy, an entrepreneur, multimillionaire, considered the most expensive copywriter in the world. When Dan started out, his mentor, another great copywriter, Gary Halbert, got him to rewrite his successful sales letters. Again and again. Now, a sales letter written by Dan will cost you $ 100,000.

As you can imagine, the simple (but not easy) way to learn how to write is to copy by hand from the best authors. Offer by offer. Line by line.

We are called COPIwriters for a reason. Unknown member of the forum

How do you select these authors?

It is unwise to rewrite everyone in a row. Choose only those whose style you like the most. In addition, it is desirable (but not necessary) to rewrite the texts in the same format that you yourself plan to write. If these are books, then copy the books. If articles - then small notes from magazines, newspapers and blogs.

Let me give you my own example.

A year ago, I started a blog about personal effectiveness. I always wrote rather badly, and therefore I firmly decided to improve my "style" so as not to disgrace myself in front of subscribers. I did some manual copying, among other exercises. What did I copy? I immediately decided that I wanted to write in a light, slightly humorous and bold way. I also write concisely - no more than 5000 characters usually. Having asked these criteria, I selected the following authors:

Ilf and Petrov
Alex Exler
Viktor Shenderovich
Vasily Utkin

Someone might notice that not all of these people are classics of literature. Yes, but this is not required! The important thing is that I enjoy reading these authors, no matter what they write about. In addition, the last three often write in my format, and Alex Exler is still a popular blogger (although I also recommend his books).

By the way, the style of modern Internet writers is not only letters, lines and paragraphs. It also includes emoticons, pictures and links. All this is also worth watching.

Friends, I will be very grateful to you if you write your favorite columnists in the comments. Maybe they would fit my collection.

Muscle memory? Not in this case

Many critics of the method emphasize precisely this. Like, you hope for muscle memory, but this will only make you a soulless writing machine, which only knows how to correctly place punctuation marks.

I disagree.

Muscle memory is not the main thing in this method. In the process of copying, connections, motives and techniques that were previously invisible are revealed to me. I'm starting to feel the structure of sentences and paragraphs.

For example, I notice that the author has broken the simplest rule that is described in all textbooks for aspiring writers. Let's say I wrote an explicit tautology. Why did he do it? It is clear that this error is not accidental. What did the author want to convey in this way?

I think about all this while my hand draws out the words.

The most difficult thing, by the way, is not to turn off the brain. All the time he tries to throw copying into the background, and he begins to think about anything but text. Copying must be deliberate.

Next, I will dispel popular doubts.

You won't have your own style

Will.

You are unique. Your experience and your character are unique. If you mix in several other styles, the resulting cocktail can "shoot in the head" of your reader. Or maybe not. At least Picasso's copying of the early masters did not prevent him from becoming not just a cool artist, but also inventing a completely new style in painting.

It's boring

Yes, from the outside it seems boring to sit and rewrite stupidly for hours. But everything changes when you take a pen. You begin to notice so many small details and "interesting things" that sometimes, willy-nilly, you stop and intently study what you have written.

“Why copy? Just read"

Reading is very important. But this is still different. When I read, I quickly become addicted to writing. Pictures are drawn in my head: people, terrain, emotions, etc. I simply do not have time (or forget) to pay attention to HOW the author writes.

Write your opinion

I recently came across a writers forum where this method was hotly discussed. The writers were divided into 2 camps: some considered this method to be reasonable, while others considered it a waste of time or even harmful. Yes, it just struck me that it was mainly people who criticized the method who had never tried it.

What do you say? Have you tried copying the classics? Does this make sense? Write in the comments!