The act of copying helps us learn from other people. Artists copy great artists. Chandler copied Hemingway. Proust copied John Ruskin, Balzac, and Flaubert. Benjamin Franklin copied the writers of his day.

Whose work would I most want to copy? Whose work would I most want mine to be like?

First line… Miller and Lee.
Storytelling… Miller and Lee. Charlaine Harris.

That’s something to think about.