How To Steal: Good Writers Borrow

How to Steal: Good Writers Borrow

Good writers borrow. Great writers steal. -T.S. Eliot *

This is great writing advice, but many people are wary about following it because they misunderstand what the terms “borrowing” and “stealing” mean in this context.

I’m here to clarify.

Borrowing is using something of someone else’s. Stealing is making something your own.

This advice means two things:

1. Don’t be afraid of reusing elements from books you love.

I’ve spoken before about stealing in How to Steal: Know Your Tropes. When you see story elements** in a book you love, don’t think that they’re now off-limits to you forever. Just because you love The Great Gatsby and it’s set in 1920s New York doesn’t mean that you can now never write a story set in 1920s New York. Just because you love I Capture the Castle and it’s written as the protagonist’s journal, doesn’t mean you can never write a novel that takes the form of the protagonist’s journal. Just because Scooby-Doo… you get my point by now, don’t you?

Take note of what you love in other stories.*** Remember those elements–the plot twists, character arcs, tropes, settings, etc.–and then use them to write a story full of things you love.

2. Make the things you steal your own.

Borrowing, in this definition, would be writing about a 1920s bootlegger in love with the girl across the way, trying desperately to impress her with his wealth. You’re stealing from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby… and making it no less F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story.

This example steals too much from one place. It’s too timid in it’s approach. it’s too afraid to take anything from the story, so it keeps everything the same. Anything that tries to be like Gatsby, but better is destined to fail. (Maybe a little like Gatsby himself. Just throw a bigger party, old sport! That’ll do the trick!)

The key to stealing is stealing from multiple things at once until it looks like your very own thing. Stealing is writing a novel about a gang of mystery solving teenagers in 1920s New York, told in the form of a journal the group takes turns writing in. (Because we’re going to add a splash of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants here.)

Stealing is saying: these story elements are mine now and I’m going to use them the way I like, combined with my interests. And you know what? By stealing bits and pieces from all of the things you love, you’re creating something unique and new and wonderful.

So go out there. And steal. Never borrow.

*****

*This is commonly attributed to him at least. The internet tells me he definitely said something close to it.

**Obviously, this doesn’t apply to the words themselves. Never steal somebody else’s words. Basically everything else is up for grabs, though.

***You’re not limited to stealing from books. Steal from movies. From TV shows. From plays. From epic poetry. From that anecdote your neighbor told you last week.

my intrusive thoughts during fall

young man

there r leaves all around

i said young man

eat a leaf off the ground

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galaxy62

6 years ago

Good stuff.

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galaxy62

6 years ago

Proving a point to my boyfriend.

PLEASE REBLOG if you (male or female) believe it is perfectly okay and natural for a guy of any age to cry

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galaxy62

6 years ago

This is literally just my math class hfghfjgjg

Every single odd number has an “e” in it.

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galaxy62

5 years ago

Query Generator!

I’ve just launched a new website called Query Generator!

Query Generator is a tool for fiction writers in the early stages of drafting or reworking their query letters. The Generator helps you identify important aspects of your story and gathers them into a standard query structure.

The main feature of the website is the Generator itself, which has a form that’s divided into five sections:

Section 1: The Protagonist

Section 2: The Plot

Section 3: Meta Data

Section 4: You!

Section 5: The Agent

The Generator looks something like this:

Every single item has both an explanation and a few examples of how you might fill out the item, which should help to guide you in filling out each section. Some of the questions are extremely simple (ex. ”Full Name”) while some might take a bit of thinking (ex. “Initial Challenges”).

Once you’re done, your query will look something like the ones on the Example Page:

The example page features the “blank” template and two examples of filled out forms. This will help you see how everything actually fits together, and should provide you with some further help before you start with your own query - or, if the Generator produces an incoherent mess - will help you see how it was everything was meant to come together in the end. You can really see here that there are very few words the Generator actually adds to your project. The longest string is six. The Generator is meant to help you find your own words as you draft your query.

Finally, there’s an Advice Page:

This page is meant to help you:

understand why the generator functions the way it does,

provides tips for further editing your query, and

helps you look toward next steps once you finish revising your query.

Why the Generator Exists

I’ve noticed, doing some query critiques here and in workshops with friends, that many first-attempts at queries are missing some fundamental story elements: protagonist ages, word counts, inciting incidents, setting, etc. No matter how well written they were, they weren’t fulfilling all of the functions required by query letters.

I have my writing the perfect query letter post, but as I was helping a friend rewrite her query, I realized that some elements were just so formulaic, that there had to be a way to just… make a query generating form.

So I decided to build, basically, a Query Ad-Libs. You fill out a form that asks for your story elements, giving you examples and explanations to help you along the way. Once it has the information, it puts everything together, and hands it back to you in a standard query layout.

It won’t be well-written, but it’ll be a starting point for you to take back to your Word Doc and hopefully use to make something amazing.

A Simple Website

This website was created by me (concept, content, & design) and my boyfriend (qualified, professional computer programmer). We didn’t have a team or testers or any outside help along the way. Just a drive to combine our skills and do something with our time besides binging Netflix (and many, many cups of Starbucks.) It’s not a professional or moneymaking endeavor, either. There are no ads or fees.

However, if you find the site useful and would like to show your appreciation, donations of cups of coffee via Ko-Fi would be greatly valued, and spent coming up with additional content, either for this site or a new one: https://ko-fi.com/letswritesomenovels.

Also, if you come across any bugs, please let us know, so we can fix them for future visitors to the Query Generator!

I hope you check it out, and - if you do - I hope you find it useful to your writing endeavors, whether you’re getting ready to query, dreaming of querying, or just having fun.

https://www.querylettergenerator.com/

xx Julia (letswritesomenovels)

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galaxy62

5 years ago

Sketchfab 3D Models

I love this site because it’s great for references, even if you don’t 3D sculpt! I’d love to get into that eventually though, because it sounds amazing.

https://sketchfab.com