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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47214
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47214
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Something nobody has yet mentioned: you might want to write your story as a **tribute** to another work.

For example, Neil Gaiman's _[A Study in Emerald](http://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/shortstories/emerald.pdf)_ is a tribute to Conan Doyle's _Sherlock Holmes_ stories. It is in the language, the style, the way the story is told. At the same time, it is unmistakably Gaiman: Conan Doyle could hardly have been a fan of Lovecraft.

Or, a different example: Susanna Clarke's _Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell_, with its language, style, snark, even the illustrations, working hard to imitate Jane Austen or something else of that period.

> It has been remarked (by a lady infinitely cleverer than the present author) how kindly disposed the world in general feels to young people who either die or marry. Imagine then the interest that surrounded Miss Wintertowne! No young lady ever had such advantages before: for she died upon the Tuesday, was raised to life in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and was married upon the Thursday; which some people thought too much excitement for one week.

If you can write a tribute that is recognisably in the style of the author you wish to write a tribute to, think of it as a gift from an admirer. What are the advantages of writing such tribute? the [intertextual](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertextuality) connection enriches your work, it is your way to say something new while at the same time remembering and respecting the old. It allows you to explore the existing work, find the things that make it unique, and employ them. You get to intimately know that particular voice, while at the same time saying something that is uniquely yours. You get to hold a conversation with an existing work.

As for finding your own voice, don't worry about it too much. Eventually, you will. Or rather, you find the right voice for the story you are currently writing, and then the next one, and the next, until it turns out that you have a voice that is your own, a sort of commonality between the stories you tell.

Original score: 1