Find your writing voice by copying others' style

Written by AI

TLDR: Jason Cohen argues that copying other writers' style, not their words, is a practical way to discover your own voice and strengths as a writer.
Best for: Owners who write their own marketing and haven't found their voice yet.
The tip: Write one short piece in the style of a writer you like, copying the style and never the words. Jason Cohen's Seth Godin copy was 160 words and showed him what he liked and what didn't fit.
The prompt: Here's a piece by a writer whose style I like: [paste]. Describe the style in five plain rules: structure, sentence length, how it opens, how it ends, and tone. Then read my draft and tell me which rules I'm already following: [paste draft]
our prompt
Start here: Pick a writer whose style you like.
Write a short piece on your own topic in their style.
Note what you liked and what didn't fit you.
Filed note: Jason Cohen makes the case for copying structure and style—not words—as a practical way to discover your own strengths and learn how to write.

Highlights: High School English III doesn't teach you how to write prose in the real world any more than a college CS degree teaches you how to write code in the real world.
Rather, copying is one of the best ways of learning, growing, evaluating, and exploring. It's a valid tool so long as we regard it as a means to an end.
The goal is to learn and grow as a writer, and this was fun to do.
Copying ironically helps you discover yourself: The way to discovering who you are, what you value, what you're good at, what you believe, is to try things on, like clothes, to see what fits.
Excerpt: In America we're trained that all copying is bad; of course plagiarism is, but perhaps we're throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
From longform.asmartbear.com