can you learn from other writers?

Hi. I suppose the answer to that has to be a conditional ‘yes’. Obviuously, you have to read other novels to be able to write a novel in the first place. And you can see how people write, what their themes and structures are and how they use techniques. So that means you are not just reading for enjoyment but you are reading, as it were, like a writer, almost with a ‘third eye’ on how a book is being written.

But there, the learning ends and the application begins. Tha’s when you are on your own, alone in a room somewhere, just you and the computer. The books on how to write are gone, as are other novels. This is when  writing is self generating. You can use the insights of other great writers, but what you write is yours and yours alone. Tha’s what makes it so exciting and frightening, all at once.