On That Whole Stealing Thing

Why and how

Good morning wordicorns and scribblers,

Have you ever heard of the book called Steal Like an Artist by

Austin Kleon

? It’s a non-fiction book about creativity and discovering “a path of your own”. The title is based on famous quotes from Picasso and T.S. Elliot.

“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.” — T. S. Elliot

“Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal.” — Pablo Picasso

I was listening to the audiobook, and it got me thinking about writing voice and style.

When you first start writing, you rarely have either. Unless you’re a prodigy, I suppose. But for most of us, it takes time and practice.

I said us for a reason.

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Okay, story time.

I love Gillian Flynn. Or rather, I love Dark Places. I also really enjoyed Sharp Objects. Wait for it—I’ve never read Gone Girl.

Gasp.

Anyhow, I read Dark Places and was obsessed. She drew me in with her visceral imagery from the first few sentences:

"I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ. Slit me at my belly and it might slide out, meaty and dark, drop on the floor so you could stomp on it. It’s the Day blood. Something’s wrong with it." — Gillian Flynn

But the more I read, the more I realized it wasn’t just her voice I loved, it was her style. It’s crammed with commas and em dashes, semicolons and colons. It feels needy and breathy.

I wanted to write like that. I wanted someone to read my book with the fervor I read hers.