Novel Kicks Writing Room: Learning By Imitation

Published March 12, 2025 | By Laura

Hello all and welcome to another Novel Kicks Writing Room.

Another Wednesday has come around so fast. Today, I wanted to do something a little different.

Some people say that the best way to learn how to write is to copy out an already published novel. So, that’s what we are going to do.

Now of course, we are not going to be plagiarising work as it’s not going further than this exercise. We are just going to be studying the composition of a story.

Pick a favourite book and turn to page 100.

Copy out that page. Copy it a few times. What do you notice about how it’s written? How are the paragraphs, style and story presented? If you have the time, pick another book and repeat the exercise. Were there similarities and differences?

Did you find this exercise useful?

You May Also Like...

Laura

I'm Laura. I started Novel Kicks back in 2009 as I wanted a place to discuss books and writing - two loves of my life. As someone who has anxiety, these two things give me, and I am sure countless others, a much needed escape.
There is a monthly book club, writing exercises, prompts, reviews, author interviews, competitions and guest posts. I cover many genres and I hope there is something for everyone.
I grew up by the sea in Dorset and currently live in Poole with my husband, Chris and three cats. I love writing and have a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing from Falmouth University. I am writing my first book. If only I could stop pressing delete. Chris has threatened to stop it from working. Haha.
I have always loved creative writing since I was in first school and would very much like to meet my teacher, Miss Sayers, to say thank you for all the encouragement she gave me then.
When not writing, I love reading, cats, Disney, singing (I can't sing but this doesn't stop me,) and falling into a good TV show or film. If I could step into any fictional world, it would be amongst the characters in ABC's Once Upon a Time.
I love reading many genres and discovering new authors.

Novel Kicks Writing Room: Learning By Imitation

You May Also Like...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply