An agent asked me to compare my novel to a recently published work and what author I would want to be most like.
Some time ago, I watched an interview with Dave Grohl of the music group Foo Fighters. When asked (and I paraphrase) if he could win American Idol, he replied that he could not.
His explanation was that participants were required to use other people’s material and to emulate successful song artists in their presentations. Then they are criticized for not getting it ‘right on’ or oppositely making it their own.
He went on to say that he never wanted to sound like someone else – he wanted to sound like himself.
I like reading other people’s writing; however, I don’t want to write like someone else – I just want to write like me. I’ve read many books but do not recall one like the one I just finished.
I’ve just drafted a query to a publisher and hope I don’t get those two questions for justification of my work.