I cheerfully admit to paying homage to some of my favorite authors by poaching plot lines, characters, settings, situations.
But I am not one of those bubbleheads who is only as smart as the last person she talked with.
Yet. Yet, I sometimes find that my thinking, my actual thought process, is influenced by whichever book I am currently reading. And this borrowed ambiance - - British accent, anyone? - - sometimes spills over into my writing.
Example?
I'm revisiting "Friends, Lovers, Chocolate" by Alexander McCall Smith. So here I am, incorporating the philosophical musings of Isabel Dalhousie into the thought patterns of Winter Jennings. And trying to find ways to slide words like 'eleemosynary' into the dialogue.
Now I don't think this is fatal, flaw-wise. Although when the Winter series is turned into a movie, it could make Central Casting's task more difficult. I need to make Winter more … Winter. Fuck.
Paige