And this week, Poe!

From the Speakers: BEFORE I FORGET by Slipknot
Just Read: THE TALISMAN by Stephen King and Peter Straub--Absolutely awesome! Exquisite writing, fantastic evil villains, and an all around awesome story. Loved the journey.
Reading Now: CITY OF GLASS by Cassandra Clare

Been reading a lot of Edgar Allen Poe this week, and my Write1Sub1 project reflects it. It's just a creepy story about a creepy guy in a creepy jail. But after having so much Poe this week, it was impossible not to incorporate it into my story.

I've done this kind of thing before, write a story similar to an author/style/story I've been into recently. When I read short stories by Stephen King, my characters end up in twisted situations and plots that all come together somehow in the end. When I read Chuck Palahniuk, my voice becomes faster and more stylish, and each story has unique quips. And so on.

Do you writers do that? Adopt a favorite author's style, or even decorate a story you read with unique tweaks and call it your own? I wonder if all artists do this to some extent. I feel like they must; new rock and roll bands always mention earlier bands in their genre as inspiration. Perhaps painting and drawing and singing are all the same.

But this week I did it on purpose. Penumbra magazine's monthly call for stories is in the theme of Poe, and in order to get in the zone for it, I've been rereading stories like THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM, THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO, and THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. Hopefully my creation, in a similar vein, will be equally enjoyable and of comparable quality.

PS: This week's amusingly incorrect prepositional phrase/figure of speech: "We thew everything under the book at her." Nope. No you did not.