Corbett is an advocate of imitation in writing, but he also warns that if you want to develop your own voice, you shouldn’t work with one author for too long. First why does Corbett advocate for imitation? What are the benefits, according to him? Then, what do *you* think of his warning about voice and imitation? Do you buy it? Why/not?
Corbett’s opinion is that imitation will allow you, as a writer, to pick up certain aspects of the imitated writer’s style, which presumably is a good thing; it would be rather foolish to imitate a writer whose work you don’t respect or revere. Thus, by imitating successful writers, you, too, may be able to become successful by assimilating aspects of their writing styles into your own. This is running on the assumption that what has worked in the past will work again…although, I suppose, that isn’t a bad assumption most of the time.
However, Corbett warns that imitating one writer too much can and will result in that writer’s voice superseding your own; instead of taking style and diction from the writer, you will take much more and sound like what you are: an imitation. I can easily see that as a danger; try too much to be like someone else, and you will achieve it, at the cost of what made you different from that person. Writing is no exception to this rule. Why would it be?
For my part, though, I don’t really advocate such blatant tactics as Corbett suggests. Copying a particular stylistic element does not make it yours. And really, I’m not sure why you would want someone else’s style in your own writing intentionally; don’t we get enough imitation these days without recycling our authors, too?
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