Hemingway studied, as models, the novels of Knut Hamsun and Ivan Turgenev. Isaac Bashevis Singer, as it happened, also chose Hamsun and Turgenev as models. Ralph Ellison studied Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. Thoreau loved Homer; Eudora Welty loved Chekhov. Faulkner described his debt to Sherwood Anderson and Joyce; E. M. Forster, his debt to Jane Austen and Proust. By contrast, if you ask a 21-year-old poet whose poetry he likes, he might say, unblushing, ”Nobody’s.” He has not yet understood that poets like poetry, and novelists like novels; he himself likes only the role, the thought of himself in a hat.
Annie Dillard, Write Till You Drop
I read this quote from Annie Dillard the other day, and it reminded me of Austin Kleon’s concept of a creative family tree. When I was far younger, I thought I should strive to be completely original in my writing, which to my young mind meant not reading much in order to be influence-free. Of course, all of that writing sucked, and I put away the idea for years and years.
It wasn’t until I was around thirty that the idea crept back up, thanks to some nudging from my wife, that maybe I could be a writer after all. This time, I started with reading more, and after reading Kleon’s book Steal Like an Artist, I started thinking about what my creative family tree would look like.
Now that I’ve taken the time to let it grow, to find my idols, my first branches, I’m binging through the work of Ursula K. Le Guin and having a blast. When I’m done exploring her branch, I’m excited to do the same with Bradbury, and so on.
For a guy that struggles with staying focused when the shiny new ideas come calling, having a structure like this is a game changer. I look forward to the climb.
Justin Williams 