6. Plagiarising technique - a great learning tool

Some new writers live in fear of unconsciously plagiarising content or mimicking someone elses style and avoid reading as some kind of safety net.

Don't.

If you want to get published you should be reading recent, quality works in your genre specifically so you CAN pull them apart to see what makes them so good. You don't want to adopt plots characters or text, of course, but you do want to adopt good technique. Having said that... if you pitch a work with some terribly obvious, high profile trademark technique in it... that's gonna get noticed and not in a good way. Everything in moderation.

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