Writing How do I write like this

Sarandib

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But that mimosa grove--the haze of stars, the tingle, the flame, the honeydew, and the ache remained with me, and that little girl with her seaside limbs and ardent tongue haunted me ever since--until at last, twenty-four years later, I broke her spell by incarnating her in another.

Or

A contorted memory of how they give artificial respiration pumps Janice's cold wet arms in frantic rhythmic hugs; under her clenched lids great scarlet prayers arise, wordless, monotonous, and she seems to be clasping the knees of a vast third person whose name, Father, Father, beats against her head like physical blows. Though her wild heart bathes the universe in red, no spark kindles in the space between her arms; for all of her pouring prayers she doesn't feel the faintest tremor of an answer in the darkness against her. Her sense of the third person with them widens enormously, and she knows, knows, while knocks sound at the door, that the worst thing that has ever happened to any woman in the world has happened to her.

How do I write like this!? These two passages are literally perfect.
 

Placeholder

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> How

In a commonplace book/text file, copy passages that you find striking, and in parallel, write, go on walks, and do improv?
 

ShrimpShady

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Honestly, I'd suggest starting with defining what you mean by "like this". What exactly about the passages moves you?

Once you've figured that out, you can start reading even more from the authors, or just reading more in general. Once you know what you're into, you can spot it even better in different texts.

At that point, the aspects you like will start seeping into your own writing. Then it's a matter of practice, practice, practice.
 

MasterY001

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Honestly, I'd suggest starting with defining what you mean by "like this". What exactly about the passages moves you?

Once you've figured that out, you can start reading even more from the authors, or just reading more in general. Once you know what you're into, you can spot it even better in different texts.

At that point, the aspects you like will start seeping into your own writing. Then it's a matter of practice, practice, practice.
If I was being serious, this is probably what I'd say. You can't just copy a writing style, you have to make your own.

One thing that helps me is wordplay. Puns, alliteration, rhyming, etc. It's fun to write and makes the general experience of reading more entertaining. Another thing is detail. Imagine what you want to describe with all five senses, then write it all down
 

Placeholder

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I think it would help to read the works out loud, and also start memorizing poetry?
 

TheTrinary

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1. Take the sentence and rewrite it. Move the parts around, clauses in different parts, playing with the punctuation. If you take it apart and learn why each decision was made, why the author chose to construct it in that specific way, then you can use those same techniques.

2. Take soemthing you've wrote and rewrite it into the form/ structure of the sentence you want to emulate. Not as a way to achieve a final product, but once again as an excercise to understand how your ideas translate to the form you're looking for.
 

Golden_Hyde

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If I was being serious, this is probably what I'd say. You can't just copy a writing style, you have to make your own.
This sentence had me torn between agreeing and disagreeing.

Sometimes you HAD to copy someone else's style, but at the same time you study their style and experiment it with your own.

But overall, yes, it's best to make your own style, but oftentimes it's easier said than done. And this ain't art either
 

Fairemont

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That's some seriously purple content.

You'll find that very hit or miss around here as it doesn't always do well in web novels where readers tend to go in with approx 15% brainpower allocated, if that much.

Its a matter of practice. Find ways to use literary techniques likes allusion and metaphor properly. These can flower up your writing immensely.
 

Fairemont

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Ah using too many words, got it.

Not necessarily. It uses more words since it is typically trying to be evocative in some fashion. Alterbatively, such prose eschews brevity in order to treat the prose as an art form.

But sometimes it is just too many words. ;)
 

LEGENDGOD1

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Not necessarily. It uses more words since it is typically trying to be evocative in some fashion. Alterbatively, such prose eschews brevity in order to treat the prose as an art form.

But sometimes it is just too many words. ;)
point me to some good vods. i really need to go heavy on those allusions and metaphors. it does help me but i dont have many in my head, need to load some of them into it
 

Fairemont

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I apologize, but that is not something I can help you with.
 

TASTYLEADPAINT

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Not necessarily. It uses more words since it is typically trying to be evocative in some fashion. Alterbatively, such prose eschews brevity in order to treat the prose as an art form.

But sometimes it is just too many words. ;)
Nahh too many words. concision is king
 

Sarandib

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Nahh too many words. concision is king
I disagree... the climax of the novel should be evocative, the entire book has built up to that point. Imagine it said instead "Despite her prayers and attempts at resuscitation, the baby died in Janice's arms. Knocks sounded at the front door and a weight fell in her stomach. Her mother had arrived."
 

TASTYLEADPAINT

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I disagree... the climax of the novel should be evocative, the entire book has built up to that point. Imagine it said instead "Despite her prayers and attempts at resuscitation, the baby died in Janice's arms. Knocks sounded at the front door and a weight fell in her stomach. Her mother had arrived."
Too each their own. Too me it just comes off as pretentious and over bearing.

Too quote family guy "it insists upon itself"
It's using a load of words to make it seem deeper than it actually is...
 
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