Mastering the Art of Imitation and Enhancement

From the moment we were born, imitation has been our first response to learning. 

We hear a sound and attempt to repeat. We imitate laughter that pleases us (notice small children have several different laughs before they stick with one). We see an object, are told it is a tree, then are shown a similar object and know it, too, is a tree.

Even in respect to our Christian life, God set up rules but knew we needed someone to imitate. God sent His Son, Jesus to not only be our Savior, but to demonstrate God's ideas, laws, and intentions for us. We are told to be imitators of Christ for a reason. Because when we do, we are meeting the standard intended for us.



The best way to become great or accomplished is to first imitate those who have been great or accomplished before us. 

This rule can, oddly enough, be done in many ways. For example: I remember hearing one of those behind the scene stories telling how Paul Simon from Simon and Garfunkel or Paul McCartney from the Beetles walked the streets of New York one morning. He heard a bird's song and liked it. The melody stuck with him the rest of the day. From that bird's song, he wrote one of his group's best selling melodies.

The second step is to enhance what we have witnessed and make it our own.

The songwriter didn't write the melody exactly like the bird's song. He used the melody as a base, then added his own ideas to form the words and tune he performed. The performing group Stomp does the same. They hear rhythms in the city and country and compose rhythmic music.

One day I walked out of a hotel elevator and rounded the corner toward my room. As I did a man past me. He went to the elevator but missed getting on. How did I know? A musical sound came as the doors closed. He imitated the notes with a whistle. The first time he tried the sound didn't match. He tried again three times then seemed satisfied with what he did. Later that day, I walked back toward the elevator. From the alcove ahead of me, I heard the same whistle, this time, the man added notes and made a little melody. I stayed out of sight to listen, knowing he'd probably stop if he saw me. The short tune was nice to hear.

Several years ago, a writing contest judge told me what she felt was the main problem with my writing. "You need to read more in your genre. Imitate what other successful writers are doing." Ahh, these were good words. 

This was only step one, though. Because once I imitated, I needed to enhance what I saw to make it mine.

My daughter's third grade rendition of
Vincent VanGogh's painting, Starry Night
(I couldn't legally download a copy of the real thing
If you want to see it, click here) 

Think of famous paintings. 

Vincent VanGogh's Starry Night is not the image we would see with our eyes or take a picture of with our cameras. Yet, he started with the imitation of something we the viewers knew and enhanced it with a deeper meaning to produce his work of art. 

This is what our stories need to do. We cannot create something from nothing, like God. But we can imitate to provide a link for our readers then enhance the story to form our unique, rich work of art.




Literary researchers have found that in all the stories that exist, there are only seven main plots. Imagine a single large oak tree with only seven main branches. From those branches are many smaller branches, twigs, and leaves. The seven main plots are:

1. Overcoming the monster
2. Rags to riches
3. The Quest
4. Voyage and Return
5. Comedy
6. Tragedy
7. Rebirth

The story we write forms a smaller branch growing from one of these seven main branches forked from a single tree trunk call fiction. 

Can you place some famous stories into one of the seven on this list? Sure. Cyclops, Cinderella, Robinson Crusoe, Lord of the Rings, Romeo and Juliet, etc. 

Which of the seven plot does your story imitate? 

Once you figure out which of the seven main plots your story matches, you can read stories that are in that category and snatch some ideas to enhance your story and morph them to fit your work. 

Consider all the stories that have rags to riches story idea like Cinderella. I'm not talking about Cinderella remakes. The Beverly Hillbillies is one. The backwoods hunter goes out one day, shoots at what he thought was a critter. Up from the ground came black oil. The oil company paid them millions. They moved from their shack to Beverly Hills. An entire television show was built around this comedic idea.

What can you see to imitate from a story in your category? How can you enhance the idea to make it unique and appropriate to your story?

This is a great tool to use when you need help deepening your story. 

I can't wait to read your comment!

Photo Courtesy: www.morguefile.com - modified for this purpose
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If you found any typos in today's post...sorry about that. 

Mary has moved to Michigan with her husband, closer to her three college kids. She misses the mountains of Montana, but loves seeing family more often. She writes young adult mystery/adventure Christian fiction, is honing marketing and writing skills, and loves to pen missionary and Bible adventure stories on her ministry blog, God Loves Kids.

Visit Mary at her website and her ministry blog to families: God Loves Kids. Or chat on Facebook or Twitter

Propelling Deep Into the Story

photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

It takes a lot to pull me deep into a book, so deep a family member's voice in the room startles me into reality.

One of my favorite Bible stories, found in Jeremiah, has that affect on me. The events from this story continue to impact others today.

Jeremiah had the strength to speak, but others had the power to punish. The princes tired of Jeremiah's warnings of impending doom. They begged king Zedekiah to get rid of him. The wimp Zedekiah gave them open permission to do what they wanted. 

To hush Jeremiah's voice and let him have a taste of the torment he put them through "they lowered him down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. And Jeremiah sank in the mire." Jeremiah 38

The princes had a vague idea about the place where they put him. Without having been inside the dungeon, they'd smelled the stench rising to the surface and heard the horror stories, enough to rank this particular dungeon number one to torture Jeremiah.

The princes didn't want to kill him. Killing a prophet would not be wise. If Jeremiah tumbled into a well so deep the bottom couldn't be seen he might die. What torture would that bring?  No. Jeremiah needed to survive. He had to experience sinking hopelessly into the swampy mire. The mire had to be reasonably deep, perhaps as high as his neck to give the torture effect.

This dungeon was secluded, any cry for help would vanish in empty space. There were no prison cells nearby. He was alone.

An Ethiopian eunuch heard what the princes did. He ran to the king and said, "My lord, these men have done evil by casting Jeremiah into the dungeon. He is likely to die from hunger."

Zedekiah said, "Take thirty men with you and lift Jeremiah out of the dungeon before he dies." 

Seriously? It took thirty soldiers to get Jeremiah out? What did this dungeon look like?  

Take a minute with me. Pull your shoes off, close your eyes, and transport your mind to a swamp. Step away from the waist high grass on the shore into the squishy, muck. Your feet slip and slide, yet sink into the brownish-black sludge. It's thick. Gooey. You step again and feel yourself sucked down, uncomfortably deep. You didn't know about the hidden drop off covered by the mirky water. Reach out-try to grab water-grass, cattail, anything to hold your balance. Your arms flounder in the dark, it takes your breath. You're cold, yet sweat beads on your neck. 

The water rises against your skin, first to your knees then hips, waist, shoulders and settles at your neck.  Mosquitos pierce your eardrum with irritatingly high-pitched noises. You dare not move to swat them away else loose your balance and sink, down, further, closer into the sludge.  You cherish the next breath and pray for another.

Fear impulses send your heart into rapid rhythms, bah boom, bah boom, b-b-b bah boom. Cloud coverage blocks the sun. A wall of black covers the sky. Darker. Deeper. Your feet are pulled, no yanked with unbreakable power by a mucky suction. 

This resembles Jeremiah's situation. This deep well from which thirty soldiers were needed to rescue him.

Did you go with Jeremiah? Did you feel the dungeon? Did you leave the comfort of your chair, become soaked in his place of torment, and now feel the need to take a shower . . or a few deep breaths of air?

1. Like Jeremiah, we also have messages to convey. Not necessarily prophetic, or God breathed Scripture, but books with something to touch the life of each person God leads to our work. The story must be captivating, powerful, engaging. Stir a pot then offer resolution.

2. Don't laden your work with adjectives. Rather, embed your work with strong, descriptive nouns. Nouns that carry the effect of quality paint on a canvas. Thick. Rich. Colorful. Storyful.

3. Realistically let events play. Irritated with Jeremiah, the bullies, played by the princes, used physical force to convey their message. Back off Jeremiah. God made the eunuch aware of the situation and directed him to point out Jeremiah's lack of food, not the torture to the wimpy king . . . who probably would have let Jeremiah sit in the mire longer, just to please the princes.

4. Raise the dander of the locals. In a positive way :) A woman recently wrote a fictional book offering what might have happened to Princess Doe before she was murdered. Her book stirred the locals, revived the investigation, and advertised not only the missing woman but also the book on a television program. In our story today, the eunuch's dander flared causing him to tell the king and spark a change. Changing one person is not enough. What will they do with the felt change? Will they go and tell someone so they too can have an experience?

The book I read for this last reading challenge was Borders of the Heart by Chris Fabry. This masterfully-crafted book put dust on my tongue, sand on my shoes, and sticky-blazing heat against my skin. Each time I set the book down I grabbed a water bottle. 

I moved from the comfort of my living room chair into the pages and experienced several scorching hot day on an Arizona ranch located near the Mexican border. It wasn't setting only, or dialogue which sucked me deep into this story. It just felt so real. The phone startled me. Time move in accelerated motion. 

What can you add, take away, or sharpen in your story to cause a reader to loose track of time and be sucked into the story?

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This blog post is by Mary Vee

Mary lives in Montana with her husband and loves to hear from her three college kids. She writes contemporary Christian fiction with a focus on the homeless population and loves to pen missionary and Bible adventure stories on her ministry blog, God Loves Kids.

Visit Mary at her website www.maryvee.com

Step into Someone Else's World

Ministry blog to families: God Loves Kids http://www.mimaryvee.blogspot.com/

Email: mimary_vee@yahoo.com