✧.* grow as we go; svt smau.
entry #17; happy trails.
synopsis: over the past ten years you’ve fallen in love many times. one day someone happens to stumble across your journal sitting out on your nightstand and started posting your entries online. after all of your secrets are leaked it’s clear things would ever be the same again.
𐦍 paring: svt members x afab! reader.
𐦍 feat: non-idol! svt
𐦍 genre/s: reader is super angsty low-key, fluffy, sexual themes.
𐦍 content: swearing, bullying, crazy ex’s, mentions of sexual relations, some drinking& mary jane 🍃
word count: 3.2k
note: a fully written chapter for my baddies. 🖤
masterlist ▸ 016 the part we play. ▸ 018 damage control. (coming soon!)
Keys are jingling in her face as Joshua stands inches above her head. Smiling down at her still trying to buckle the torture device women call heels.
"Are we ready yet, princess?"
Y/n didn't respond with words but a big sigh meaning no. Packing her purse frantically while she runs around the apartment in search of lipstick to match the red of her dress.
“Y/n, you’ll be fine. I would say trust me but I feel like we're beyond that.”
Running back and forth between rooms she still didn’t know what to say to Joshua, she decided to let the tensions between the two of them go away for the night as they tackle the bigger fish.
“Josh. I know. Minghao texted me that he’s going to pretend to be on Mimi’s side. He said we have to be careful. I’m just not sure why.”
“We’re like seven against one. It will be fine.”
“Will it? Who knows what she’s capable of, she's very capable of taking all of you down to get to me. She proves it all the time. Maybe I just shouldn’t go. This is stupid even entertaining her.”
“Do you still care about me and Minnie? Even if you don't, you do care about Minghao. I know for a fact if you don’t show up she will blackmail us forever. I also have a feeling she’ll go for Seokmin somehow, she knows he’s weak. If she can’t take you down, she will definitely take him down.”
“Then let’s end this once and for all, please.”
Locking her front door, feeling fire in her gut to take down the girl who had done everything in her power to hurt y/n, she couldn’t help but feel like there was something brewing that she wouldn’t be able to come back from.
With the air around her full of pressure, she sat in silence in the back of the uber next to a friend who used to be her entire world and now was barely a part of it.
Something about the ride to Mingyu’s bar felt like it was going to be the last time she saw herself like this, full of anxiety about the days going forward, worried that the other shoe will drop.
When the two of them finally arrived they were met with an obnoxious banner outside the front door, that the bar was closed for an ‘exclusive’ event.
Seokmin was standing off to the right, clutching his phone in his hand, looking obviously nervous waiting for y/n to arrive.
She quickly jumped out of the car with a thank you and ran into his arms, holding onto him for dear life before you went inside.
“You look beautiful, y/n. Perfect revenge dress.”
“Thank you for being here to help me.”
“Where else would I be? Hi, Josh.”
“Hey, Seok. Where are.. You know.”
“Out back, they parked Won’s car in the staff lot and are waiting back there.”
“Okay. Cool. Let them know we’ll give them a signal to come in.”
Walking through the front door, still sticking Seokmin on her arm. Feeling his physical touch to put y/n at ease following behind Joshua.
There was a table set up at the front, small bags designed for everyone's phones at coat check, the security guard asked to confiscate everything on them including their bags.
Getting a deep wondering look in her eyes, Joshua was asking for permission if it's okay, though she was apprehensive to hand over the items that could be useful for her escape if needed she knew but she also knew she had to do it.
Seokmin told the guard he just had to send a final message, assuming it was to the nerd back in the parking lot, you just sent him a small smile.
After hanging over the personal items, the three piece crew, much smaller than normal, were handed numbered masks, assumingly part of Mimi’s plan to know who is who.
“Guys, please stay close. Okay?”
“We’re not going to leave you, y/n. We promise.
“Good.”
Placing their masks over their eyes, Seokmin in something that looked like a green dragon, Joshua a white jester, and y/n a black sparkly mask with two small horns placed over her eyebrows.
“I see she still has a sense of humor.”
“I’m not sure if I think this is very funny, y/n.”
“Humor keeps me living, Shua.”
“Clever.”
Walking through the black velvet curtain, there were swarms of people everywhere, some holding trays with champagne and other clear liquids, a parade of dancers on tables, and some party goers looking at the three of them, trying to suss out who they were.
“How the fuck are we going to find her in here?”
Y/n leaned into Seokmin’s ear and whispered the things Minghao had told her before she gave up her phone.
Minghao was supposedly the only male guest in some type of red mask and knowing Mimi it had something to do with the devil.
“Guys, I’m going to go grab us some drinks, don’t take anything from anyone if they offer you something. She may have spiked a drink since I’m sure she knows you’ve arrived.”
Joshua was right, y/n hadn’t even thought about the possibility of Mimi doing something dirty to take her out and make her embarrass herself.
Y/n pulled Seokmin along to the bathroom that was sitting next to the bar, locking them both inside for a moment to talk before their night.
“Look. Let’s not drink anything, okay? And we can’t eat either. Joshua reminded me of something from that video of me that Mimi had put out at Minghao’s event. She said she could get us some stuff to have a fun night and to loosen me up more so I could go over to Joshuas and lose my virginity.”
“She’s so sick. Y/n I'm so sorry.”
“It’s fine. I just don’t want anything to happen to you, because if i-”
With a small scream from Seokmin and y/n from a small knock on the door, she just yelled out they’d only be a minute, but the knocking persisted.
“Y/n? It’s Minnie. Let me in.”
“Uhh, Seokmin is having a bit of a bathroom emergency. Just one second.”
“Guys. I know you’re lying, just let me in. I know you don’t want to see me. But, please.”
Unlocking the door and letting Minnie slide through the crack, you noticed her mask as something to be aware of. It was some sort of bunny with pink crusted jewels all around it.
“What do you want, Minnie?”
“Seokmin, just let me talk okay?”
“Fine.”
“I know you guys don’t want to see me, I’m sure Joshua explained a little bit of what was going on considering you came with him here willingly. Just know I didn’t do it to hurt you, I did it to save myself. I was being selfish. Mimi knew stuff that I have never told anyone, not even the two of you, she was threatening telling my parents and I couldn’t come back from that, they’d nev-”
“Minnie? We don’t care right now, why did you want to come in here?”
“Because, I have an idea.”
“Which is?”
“Let me trade places with you tonight. Give me your dress and mask. That way whatever she tries to do to you, it’ll be me instead.”
“But, our hair is different, they took my bag so I don’t have the matching lipstick for you to wear.”
“Mingyu is doing work in his office, you can go hide in there with him. I have an overnight bag with some stuff in it that you can put on. I think it’ll be better if we're both not out there.”
“What about Seokmin? And wouldn’t she be suspicious if you’re not out there?”
“No. When I came to set up, I told her I wasn’t feeling well and that I wanted to go home early. She doesn’t even know he and I are still here.”
“How do I know this isn’t part of her plan?”
“Because I didn’t tell her about your friends waiting for you outside and about you and Minghao being friends still? Other than that you just will have to find it in your gut to believe me even if I betrayed you.”
“Okay.”
“Y/n are yo-”
“Seokmin, I’m sure.”
“Aright. We’ve been in here too long hurry up and change, Joshua is probably confused.”
“Follow me to the office, we'll swap there.”
Minnie led y/n and Seokmin down to the end of the hall holding her eagle eye on the room full of party go-ers looking for Mimi before making a clear getaway into the room Mingyu was held up in.
Unlocking the key to his office door. Minnie swooped her former best friend into the room where Mingyu was sitting at his desk, airpods in his ears, sipping on a beer.
“Hey.”
“Hi, Gyu.”
“Long time no see, y/n. Seokmin.”
“We miss you, big dog.”
“I know, Seoky.”
“Mingyu, y/n is going to stay in here with you while me and Seokmin go around the party. Okay? Keep her safe.”
“What about Seokmin?”
“Why does everyone keep asking about me?”
“Because, you’re the glue.”
“Aw, Mingyu.”
“Guys. Turn around so we can change.”
“Why it’s not li-”
“Mingyu.”
Y/n giggled at the interaction between Mingyu and Minnie, still unsure if they’re officially together or not, but she had hoped they were.
Slipping out of their dresses, y/n changed into Minnie's casual clothes, a pair of grey sweatpants and hoodie as Minnie slid into the red dress that fit like a glove.
“I have makeup wipes and other stuff in my bag, feel free to use it.”
“Okay.”
“Ready, Seok?”
“I think so, but what about Minghao? And the guys?”
“I can call them for you, I still have my phone.”
“But, how will you know when?”
“Cameras.”
“Wow, no shit. Okay. Be safe.”
“Seokmin?”
“Yeah, y/n?”
“If you see Minghao.”
“Don’t worry.”
As y/n was peeling her makeup off, Minnie and Seokmin slipped back out the door they came in from and back into the party hoping to uncover truths for their friends as she was stuck in an office with her old flame, in secret once again.
“Want a beer?”
“Please.”
Mingyu handed over a glass bottle as he popped the top off swiftly, y/n chugged at the golden liquid hoping it would settle her stomach slightly.
“Minghao, huh?”
“What?”
“You guys, are uh? Dating? Friends?”
“We’re just friends.”
“For now.”
“What?”
“You like him.”
“I did. I don’t even know anymore.”
“You do. You just don’t trust him.”
“Not fully, no. Not yet. I really only trust Seokmin and the guys. Which is sad.”
“Not even me?”
“I’ll be honest, I thought you had something to do with it for a while.”
“Y/n, come on.”
“I just wasn’t sure. Joshua told me everything. I know you didn’t. I’m sorry I doubted you I guess.”
“Do you think if all of this never happened things would’ve been different between us?”
“Maybe. How are you and Minnie?”
“The same. I think she has a lot of stuff to work out before anything would ever be able to happen seriously.”
“Like?”
“A lot of things she should tell you herself, but I don’t like that she hurt you.”
“Mingyu, you know-”
“No. I know. It’s silly I still like you after you made it clear to me your feelings, but I can’t help it. I’m competing with your childhood crush and your knight in shining armor I get-”
“No. Mingyu.”
Y/n pointed to the screen, watching Minnie approach who y/n thought was maybe Mimi, watching their interaction carefully. Mimi ran her hand over Minnie's masked face and took Seokmin’s hand in hers, jumping a little bit off the ground. Holding her hands out to show them the work she had put in for y/n's birthday.
“Do you think she knows?”
“That it’s not you? Maybe. She is a good liar.”
“She definitely is.”
Y/n noticed to their side seated at a table was Minghao, something about his demeanor and watchful stance, plus the hint of the red mask, let her into the detail.
“That’s Hao.”
“In the red? Where’s Josh?”
“To the left. White mask.”
“What do you think they're talking about?”
“No clue.”
Mimi handed Seokmin and Minnie drinks off the tray that were brought over and cheered them on as she went to take her spot on the stage to introduce the DJ for the evening and also thank the guests for coming, a sign the party was officially in full swing.
Y/n and Mingyu kept watching on as Seokmin and Minnie sipped their drinks, when he suddenly stopped her from putting the cup to her lips and swapped their drinks without letting Mimi onto what he was doing.
“Do you really think she’d drug your or Minnie, but your drinks?”
“I do. I told Seokmin to be careful. Joshua was the one actually who told me.”
“Why do you think she hates you so much?”
“Because I’m the only person who never put up with her shit.”
“And you’re the only person who can get what she wants but can't have?”
“Not true.”
“It is. She wanted Josh, she got him, but really he wanted you. She got Minghao to fall for you unintentionally even though she had him first and wanted him to do her dirty work by lying. She hates you because you’re everything she isn't. Kind and Honest.”
“I don’t feel that way. I never tell people what I want. Even Seokmin. I don’t know how to tell people my true and honest feelings. I just skirt around them. I act like I’m okay and I’m not. I’m not okay. I sometimes feel like she’s onto something. Maybe she’s helping me go after things I need.”
“See.”
“What?”
“Even though she’s fucking with your life you have compassion enough to say maybe she’s helping you. You’re a good person, y/n.”
“Maybe.”
“Trust me. That’s why I fell in love with you.”
“Don’t. Mingyu, please. Not now.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
As the pair was sitting and drinking at Mingyu’s desk, they entirely missed Mimi’s devious actions in spiking the drink that belonged to one of their friends.
“Wait. Why is she on stage?”
“She’s talking.”
“Do you have sound on your cameras?”
“Yeah, one second.”
Mingyu unmuted his laptop and watched as Mimi paraded around the stage.
“Hello, everyone. I’m Mimi, of course. I know you can’t tell under my mask. But, I’m here to celebrate the birthday girl, y/n. She has been in my life for a long time, we were such good friends as kids. Did you know y/n stole my boyfriend? It’s funny, she’s always doing things people don’t expect. I want to bring her up here tonight to let her tell you her story for herself as she turns another year older. y/n? Can you please come to the stage?”
Seokmin nudged Minnie who was looking unwell, the girl on his side pretending to be someone she wasn’t slinked onto the stage next to Mimi, clearly inebriated.
Mimi smirked and handed her the microphone, letting her know it was time for a speech.
“Uh, Hi. Sorry, I’m not feeling well.”
The crowd of people they may or may not have known the girl who stepped on the stage wasn’t the girl of honor, y/n and Mingyu watched in disbelief holding eachothers hands without realizing it.
Minnie fell to her knees which prompted Seokmin and other masked guests including Joshua and Minghao to run to her side as the microphone cracked loudly over the speakers.
Mingyu tugged tightly on y/n’s hand before she forced him to run out to the girl left on the small stage who had fainted.
Y/n was sitting and watching everything go down when all of the sudden the lights cut out, following the last bit of light from the computer screen.
“Y/n?”
“Hello? Who is it?”
“Aw, are you scared?”
“Mimi?”
“Who else?”
“What's wrong with Minnie?”
“Oh she’ll be fine. You should know better than to cross me. Bold of you both to go against what I actually had planned, but she meant well. I can't fault her for that."
“What do you want?”
Y/n felt Mimi’s presence beside her, her breathing slowing more in the faint black room.
“You. Well, for you to go away.”
“If I agree to what you want, will you leave my friends alone?”
“Yeah. I need you to do something for me first.”
“What is that?”
“Lie for me.”
“Why?”
A flashlight suddenly lit up the room, illuminating both of the girls' faces, Mimi had a sinister smile on her face.
“Because you owe me.”
“What do I need to do? And before I agree you have to promise me all of them will be okay.”
“I promise.”
"So?"
“I need you to go, I need you to find somewhere out of the city. I’ll tell your friends the rest. I put a bag in my car out front. It has everything, your phone, your wallet. Just get in and drive. I don’t care where you go, but just know if you show back up or contact them. I’ll find you. I’ll handle everything else.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“Hm. I’ll give you this.”
Mimi handed y/n a small pink zip drive hooked onto her key unit. Something for her to hold onto. She took it in the palm of her hand and shoved it inside the pocket of Minnie’s sweats.
“Can I ask you a favor if I do this?”
“I guess. What is it?”
“Take care of Seokmin and Jun. Even if you don’t get too close to them, just make sure they are alright. Everyone else can handle themselves. I just need to know the two of them will be okay.”
“Yes, y/n. Your bitch boys will be well taken care of.”
“Okay.”
Y/n took the keys from the top of Mingyu’s desk, ready to make her exit as the tears welled up in her eyes.
“Y/n?”
“What?”
“Aw, don't cry. I just need you to sign this letter I wrote. So they think it's from you.”
Y/n took the pen from Mimi, only reading the first few words of the fake letter meant for her friends and signed her name at the bottom. Maybe it wasn’t right, but she knew if she ever got the chance to apologize they’d understand.
“Actually can I ask you for one more thing before I go, Mimi?”
“Yep.”
“Why does it have to be like this?”
“Well because I know if I don’t force you out I’ll never get what I want. Good luck, y/n. You’ll need it.”
“Thanks. I guess.”
Y/n slipped out the back door of Mingyu’s bar for what she thought would be the last time. She took a deep exhale watching her breath follow the wind as she walked to Mimi’s car and slammed the door shut behind her. Finally letting the tears fall from her face before she started it and drove away.
She made a promise to herself as she left, just minutes until she became a year older. That somehow she’d find her way back, even though she may be picking up the pieces of what she left behind.
note: my girl y/n going thru it?? everyone going thru it?? ik she's not a text chapter but I hope u enjoy!! (also fully writing my author note low-key drunk?) anyway! after the next two chapter + the epi my big gawg is ending (sad?) but I hope u all will enjoy my pfd fic etc sorry it took me so long to get her up I wanted her to be good! ok! (steam nct dream smoothie ?? or unknown the whole album hits ily??)
taglist: @sun-daddy-yoriichi@hipsdofangirl@kissesfrmwonwoo@minhui896@wonwooz1@porridgesblog@jasssy051@soonyoungblr@saucegirlreads@musingsofananxiouspotato@young-adult-summer@punkhazardlaw@bibs-world@the-swageyama-tobiyolo@wonuulvr@woozixo@k-drama-adict@90s-belladonna@blaycke@dnylwoo@to-mi-yo, @nonononranghaee
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Reading Like a Writer and "Stealing Like an Artist"
Reading is one of the top two exercises we have to improve our writing (the other being writing itself), but reading as a writer is a fairly different experience from reading as a reader. How do we strengthen our prose with our favorite texts?
Readers are by and large concerned with a story's "cool factor," how much a story makes them oooh and aaah. This is what Aristotle calls "spectacle" in his Poetics. Do your characters have a dragon dogfight where the hero jumps from his mount, lands on the villain's, and they fight on his dragon? Does your story have its own techno-fantasy flavor of magic? Does your witch wear a shaded cloak and have an edgy name? These are all spectacle. As a writer, you should be much less concerned with spectacles themselves and much more concerned with how those spectacles are created. You can and should analyze things like character arcs (how one character has ended up where they are, and how and why they've changed in each step of their journey), but if we really want to better our stories, we need to get more granular in our analyses.
What formal elements (words, punctuation, anything relating to the "form" of a text) does your favorite writer use, and how do they use them? You may be tempted to start your textual analyses by looking at the big pictures of character arcs, themes, settings, etc., but as a writer, we understand that these things are created by a text's formal elements. It sounds simple and boring--and I promise it stops being boring once you really get into it--but words make a story, and writers are concerned with words before they're concerned with story.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not saying you can't be interested in a text's broader story or its spectacle. I'm saying you should be more concerned with how those things are created.
Let's analyze section of prose from my favorite author, Virginia Woolf, in her novel To the Lighthouse:
But his son hated him. He hated him for coming up to them, for stopping and looking down on them; he hated him for interrupting them; he hated him for the exaltation and sublimity of his gestures; for the magnificence of his head; for his exactingness and egotism (for there he stood, commanding them to attend to him) but most of all he hated the twang and twitter of his father's emotion which, vibrating round them, disturbed the perfect simplicity and good sense of his relations with his mother. By looking fixedly at the page, he hoped to make him move on; by pointing his finger at a word, he hoped to recall his mother's attention, which, he knew angrily, wavered instantly his father stopped. But, no. Nothing would make Mr. Ramsay move on. There he stood, demanding sympathy.
Mrs. Ramsay, who had been sitting loosely, folding her son in her arm, braced herself, and, half turning, seemed to raise herself with an effort, and at once to pour erect into the air a rain of energy, a column of spray, looking at the same time animated and alive as if all her energies were being fused into force, burning and illuminating (quietly though she sat, taking up her stocking again), and into this delicious fecundity, this fountain and spray of life, the fatal sterility of the male plunged itself, like a beak of brass, barren and bare. He wanted sympathy. He was a failure, he said. Mrs. Ramsay flashed her needles. Mr. Ramsay repeated, never taking his eyes from her face, that he was a failure. She blew the words back at him. "Charles Tansley..." she said. But he must have more than that. It was sympathy he wanted, to be assured of his genius, first of all, and then to be taken within the circle of life, warmed and soothed, to have his senses restored to him, his barrenness made furtile, and all the rooms of the house made full of life--the drawing-room; behind the drawing-room the kitchen; above the kitchen the bedrooms; and beyond them the nurseries; they must be furnished, they must be filled with life.
Charles Tansley thought him the greatest metaphysician of the time, she said. But he must have more than that. He must have sympathy. He must be assured that he too lived in the heart of life; was needed; not only here, but all over the world. Flashing her needles, confident, upright, she created drawing-room and kitchen, set them all aglow; bade him take his ease there, go in and out, enjoy himself. She laughed, she knitted. Standing between her knees, very stiff, James felt all her strength flaring up to be drunk and quenched by the beak of brass, the arid scimitar of the male, which smote mercilessly, again and again, demanding sympathy.
It's pretty dense prose, and it isn't for everyone, but let's dig into it. How does Woolf use the formal elements of her writing?
POV: third-person omniscient. But the narrator here sounds dramatically different from any other omniscient narrator you've probably read. Woolf uses her narrator's omniscience to freely flow between viewpoint characters, starting with Mr. Ramsay, moving to Mrs. Ramsay, and ending with Charles Tansley. It's a style of train-of-thought narration that's pretty unique to Woolf and incredibly difficult and risky to pull off. It makes it feel like the group of people she writes about is a person in itself with its own conscience Woolf is following.
Punctuation: Lots of commas and semicolons. Woolf wrote in an era when formal maximalism was fairly in vogue (the 1920s-30s), but even by those standards, Woolf is doing a lot.
Sentence style: Long sentences, likely longer than anything else you've read. This gives the text a dreamlike feeling, heightening the idea that you're in these characters' heads. Notice also how she paces her longer sentences, building substance and tempo before coming to a short, lucid conclusion:
"By looking fixedly at the page... But, no. Nothing would make Mr. Ramsay move on."
"Mrs. Ramsay, who had been sitting loosely... He wanted sympathy. He was a failure, he said."
You can analyze a text for much more than this, but these are the things I notice immediately about Woolf, and going any deeper would require a thesis of a post, which I don't have time for hah.
Now that I've recognized these elements of Woolf's style that I admire, I can tinker with my own writing. This is what people mean when they say to "steal like an artist": not to copy and publish an author's work itself, because that's plagiarism, but to adapt what you like of their use of formal elements into your own style. Below is me playing with Woolf's sensibilities in one of my novels (spoilers if you're currently reading Camp Catechism):
Piper left to her position on the field with a roil in her stomach she had never felt before. Her finger touched an ember in a field of ash, and she kindled, grinned beyond a grin where Carmen couldn’t see, where she wished Carmen could see. But he would in time. In some distant month, he would watch her redden, recall the thousand reds he had painted her, and recall also that the ghost had left or was absent; that Camp Catechism shrunk in memory as a shore dropping from an outbound boat; that she joined him on deck and followed him to foreign lands, that she would walk this land with him. They had escaped the past, if only for a time; for a time, nothing drowned resurfaced. The drum major raised her hands, and the waves stilled.
The second sentence is longer than the first, the third longer than the second, then a sharp, short revelation: "But he would in time." Then, I try my best at a long, Woolfian sentence metered out with commas and semicolons, driven by a fresh and innovative bit of figurative language (notice how the ocean and boat imagery works through the whole sentence, not just one of its clauses), and resolving in another bit of concise prose: "The drum major raised her hands, and the waves stilled." I didn't take Woolf's omniscient narrator (if I did, we'd probably see into Carmen's head here as well).
Now, my writing doesn't sound like Woolf's, in part because she is a much greater master of the craft than I, but also because, well, we're different people with different styles! The truth is that you will never write like your favorite author, and that's okay. The point of reading like a writer isn't to become your favorite writer but to see why they are your favorite writer and to adapt your prose styles together. We're aiming for adaptation, not mimicry.
This is only one example of "reading like a writer," and I don't go super in-depth to begin with. You can talk at length about the figurative language an author uses, how they build their metaphors, their noun, verb, adjective, and etc. choices, the grandiosity of the prose ("the arid scimitar of the male, which smote mercilessly, again and again, demanding sympathy" is no ordinary prose), and much, much more. Every bit of text carries an infinite wealth of analysis and discussion, and if you want to better your own writing, you must engage with texts on this level. I don't mean you need to do this every second you read, because then you would forget the story itself, and as much as we should be concerned with the nitty-gritty, you should still read as a reader. Whether or not you enjoy a story is the first step in knowing if and how you want to adapt that style into your own, and if you've read enough books, understanding if you think a book is "good" and also understanding if you personally enjoy the book take a load of time and introspection. What I mean is that every writer should be attentive while they're reading to the author's style in addition to the story itself. Be on the lookout for words and phrases and punctuation that wow you. When you finish a reading session, ask yourself why the author chose to do X with the narrator, or why they write with so many Ys. There are no right answers, and you'd be hard-pressed to find an unpopular answer.
You may also not get much out of a novel, or you may only have a loose feeling of "I want to write like this." This is perfectly normal. If you press a book once, you may only get a drop of cider. Rereading yields much more cider than the first press, as does reading other books--books help you understand other books. Also, if you want to press more cider from a book without rereading it, just keep that book in the back of your mind. Meditate on it. Which scenes/characters/images stuck with you and why? Currently, I have the Patrick Melrose novels and The Haunting of Hill House rattling around in my brain. Let something rattle around in yours!
As always, my asks are open for any questions/comments/etc. :)
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