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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27995
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27995
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

There is a fundamental difference between the desire to imitate and the desire to create. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the desire to imitate. Indeed, it is the foundation of our social order. Imitation is how we learn to get along with each other. It is why originals tend to be outcasts. We are imitating animals.

The idea of being a creator is very appealing. Society encourages it in word as much as it discourages it in deed. Imitating the creative work of others that is already socially acceptable, whether it is through pastiche or through fan fiction, is a safe way to play at being a creator without taking any real risks.

Lauren is right that you can learn a lot of the mechanics of writing from writing pastiche, and most of us started out that way to one extent or another. But I disagree with her suggestion to keep on doing it. You have come to the point of realizing that you want to be more than an imitator. You are standing at the deep end of the pool and staring down at the water, knowing that if you jump in, your feet will not touch the bottom and you will have to swim.

It is time to jump.

It is never going to get less scary. No matter how many times you go back to the kiddy pool, there is nothing more for you to learn in the kiddy pool once you have looked into the deep end with envy and desire. From this point on, further pastiche is simply cowardice.

It is time to jump.

Art is the imitation of life. Pastiche is the imitation of art. The way you make the jump is simply this: start observing life, start speculating about life. Watch people on the bus. Where are they going. What are they thinking. What horrors are about to befall them? What horrors are they about to commit? Fully observe a person or a scene, then have some horror, some​ unexpected disaster, intervene. How do these people react -- these particular real people that you have so carefully observed and whose inner lives you have imagined -- how do they react. Write that.

It is time to jump.

Original score: 2