Writing Focus: Pastiche

We all have authors and poets that we look up to and admire, whether it be due to their whimsical storylines, incredible use of language or the way that they structure their stories and poems. For many of us, emulating our favourite authors is something that we do naturally, adding our own twist onto it to create our own unique style of writing. However, sometimes you’ve just got to write in someone else’s style in order to make something work and for that, we’ve got pastiche writing!

What Is Pastiche?

Pastiche in writing is a way of utilising somebody else’s writing style or characterisation in your own work, to honour the person that originally used the style. The main reason for writing a pastiche is to imitate the style of an author in a way that draws attention to their work and places it on a pedestal, as opposed to mocking it in any way.

In literature, this is often a very light phrase — a pastiche does not have to exactly mimic the way that somebody else writes, rather paying homage to it. Examples of pastiche in modern-day times would be the likes of The Traveler by Dave McClure which seeks to emulate Edgar Allan Poe’s style in The Raven, or Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley — a pastiche of sorts based on Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

Tips

This may seem like a no brainer, but if you’re going to emulate somebody else’s style, you’re going to have to do a lot of reading! Read through your favourite novels or poems by that particular person, paying close attention to the way that they write and the vocabulary they use. Do they use simplistic language and short sentences frequently? You’ll be aiming to do the same. Likewise, if they use long sentences and flowering prose, you’ll be looking to emulate that yourself.

Don’t try and copy anything word for word — you could end up accidentally plagiarising without knowing it. Take as much inspiration as you can from the original work, but don’t take whole chunks of prose and simply re-word them. Instead, read the book or poem, spend a day or two away from it and sit down and write with the book or poem out of sight. You’ll be less inclined to look at the words used in that case. After you’ve finished, you can then go back and change any words that don’t fit into the style.

Have somebody else who’s a fan of the author’s work read through your own work. This way, they’ll be able to tell you if anything sounds off, or doesn’t fit that you may not have noticed in your own editing.

Prompts

Looking to try out a few pastiche pieces of your own? These prompts are simple, but may help you out immensely!

1. Take the first chapter of one of your own stories or one-shots and write it in the style of your favourite author.
2. Pick out the third book or poem on your bookshelf. Read through it, and write your own piece in the style of that specific book.

People say that imitation is the strongest form of flattery, and pastiche shows that even authors can emulate others in order to honour their works. If you’re looking for a unique way to pay homage to your favourite author, then pastiche may be the perfect way to go.

Special thanks to losing control. and cleopatra. for editing!