Lemma Soft Forums

Writers, how can I avoid being a sponge?

I've noticed that my writing style is highly influenced by whatever work I most recently read. This is true, for example, in my most recent novel, which has a lot of slapstick comedy even though I hate novels or animes that uses this element. The VN I've read before writing this work was SMEE's Fureraba - a moe, kusoge, with the same kind of comedy I used in my work.

I would definitely like to avoid having my writing style being affected this way, but to have a solid writing, or to be adaptable.

Am I the only who suffers from this? Is there anything I can do to avoid this? (Note: I've read 60 light novel volumes and 6 regular novels in my life. Maybe my problem is having read few books?)

I guess it's unavoidable to be influenced by what you read (or see, or hear). It can work to your advantage. For my Slushball Slasher I read a lot of Sherlock Holmes (actually I listened to it, all of the Holmes' stories are available as audio books on youtube).

Can't hurt to diversify though. Stephen King wrote in his book "On Writing" that a writer should not only write every day but also read tons of books (King also listens to a lot of audio books).

The Gutenberg project might help you out. It contains thousands of literary works of which the copyrights have expired. Here's the link.

This happens to me aswell, we sort of unconsciously get heavily influenced by recent media. So you're not alone^^

It can be a challenge to maintain a distinctive writing style, I would say it's best to study classic literature. Cause those guys have years of experience of writing.

And agreeing with fuseblower, diversifying helps cause you can expose yourself to different writing styles.

I started analysing the way comedians talk and tell stories, I always found them unique. Maybe that's something you could try too!

It's not possible to avoid influence, especially of things that land well and don't. This isn't something to fear or despise. Lean into it, as your writing voice becomes clearer and more focused.

It is possible to make the background noise go away and hammer away at your own work and vision though.