Paul Whybrow
Full Member
When I worked as a librarian in the 1970s, in a posh branch at Marylebone, London, we used to keep a small section of reference books in the lending department, which could answer common queries; there was a large reference library upstairs.
One of the most commonly consulted reference books was called Who Writes Like?, which enabled avid readers to discover writers similar in style to their favourite authors. This tome had already been around for decades, and has since been renamed Who Else Writes Like?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Else-Writes-Like-Readers/dp/1905499418
Nowadays, it's also available as a fee-charging website: An Introduction to Who Else Writes Like...? - Who Else...? from LISU
Another literary reference book listed fictional character names, which in the pre-internet age was anxiously thumbed by writers hoping that the chosen name for their protagonist hadn't already been used. These days, it's sensible to check online that your unique creation isn't already striding across the pages of someone else's book!
I previously posted a thread asking what your influences were, but who you write like isn't entirely the same thing. For instance, I've given up on reading several crime novels since I started writing my own, and the bad writing I rejected has served as a salutary influence on what not to do. Stuff like info-dumps, getting technical facts incorrect and having a plot so preposterous, that any reader would be incapable of suspending disbelief for long enough to give it credence.
As my detective stories are set in Cornwall, I have a sinking feeling that should I ever appear in Who Else Writes Like?, I'd be compared to well-known authors who set their stories in the county—Daphne du Maurier, Arthur Quiller-Couch and W. J. Burley, who at least wrote detective novels.
With my crime writing, I attempt to emulate Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke, Dennis Lehane and Lawrence Block for the way that they create fully-rounded protagonists, setting them in landscapes that become as much characters as the goodies and baddies. For humorous interaction between my coppers, I'd do well to be compared to the masterful Andrea Camilleri, whose Inspector Montalbano investigations set on Sicily are as amusing as they are intriguing; he writes really well about food too—I always feel hungry while reading his stories.
Reading Walter Mosley has inspired me to include more random thoughts in my detective protagonist's mind, even while he's questioning a witness or suspect, for Mosley manages to effortlessly juggle several trains of thought.
Who do you write like—consciously or without noticing that you've done it?
Has anyone ever said to you that they were reminded of another author by your writing?
Or, to put the question another way, who would you be flattered to be compared to?
One of the most commonly consulted reference books was called Who Writes Like?, which enabled avid readers to discover writers similar in style to their favourite authors. This tome had already been around for decades, and has since been renamed Who Else Writes Like?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Else-Writes-Like-Readers/dp/1905499418
Nowadays, it's also available as a fee-charging website: An Introduction to Who Else Writes Like...? - Who Else...? from LISU
Another literary reference book listed fictional character names, which in the pre-internet age was anxiously thumbed by writers hoping that the chosen name for their protagonist hadn't already been used. These days, it's sensible to check online that your unique creation isn't already striding across the pages of someone else's book!
I previously posted a thread asking what your influences were, but who you write like isn't entirely the same thing. For instance, I've given up on reading several crime novels since I started writing my own, and the bad writing I rejected has served as a salutary influence on what not to do. Stuff like info-dumps, getting technical facts incorrect and having a plot so preposterous, that any reader would be incapable of suspending disbelief for long enough to give it credence.
As my detective stories are set in Cornwall, I have a sinking feeling that should I ever appear in Who Else Writes Like?, I'd be compared to well-known authors who set their stories in the county—Daphne du Maurier, Arthur Quiller-Couch and W. J. Burley, who at least wrote detective novels.
With my crime writing, I attempt to emulate Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke, Dennis Lehane and Lawrence Block for the way that they create fully-rounded protagonists, setting them in landscapes that become as much characters as the goodies and baddies. For humorous interaction between my coppers, I'd do well to be compared to the masterful Andrea Camilleri, whose Inspector Montalbano investigations set on Sicily are as amusing as they are intriguing; he writes really well about food too—I always feel hungry while reading his stories.
Reading Walter Mosley has inspired me to include more random thoughts in my detective protagonist's mind, even while he's questioning a witness or suspect, for Mosley manages to effortlessly juggle several trains of thought.
Who do you write like—consciously or without noticing that you've done it?
Has anyone ever said to you that they were reminded of another author by your writing?
Or, to put the question another way, who would you be flattered to be compared to?
