Study of the Masters

If you have been an artist of any sort (be it writing, music, painting, photography etc.) for any amount of time, you will have probably noticed that as much as you draw inspiration from the real world- and certainly you should, inspiration also takes the form, very often, of imitation. The trouble is what to imitate, and knowing the limitations of that imitation.
Looking back on my early work I see, quite shamelessly, everything that I love in my writings from my teenage years, from creatures in Star Wars to dialogue from Spirited Away.
What can I say? My early pieces are unpolished, and sometimes downright theft occurred.
Imitation is healthy in all art forms. Studying the works of people who are your betters- and certainly many people will be- is a natural part of learning to become an artist.
A wise artist never stops studying, and I will never believe I have arrived at a place where I will regard myself as a great writer. I will continue to study my betters. And no matter how good my writing could one day become, I will never believe I am above those writers who I regard as the masters.
So what is the difference between shameless imitation and the study of a master? Discernment.
One of my favorite authors is C.S. Lewis, who was a master of many genres of writing include children’s fiction, science-fiction, poetry, philosophical essays and dramatic historical fiction, to name a few. I regard the man as a master writer, as a sculptor may regard Michaelangelo or a painter Van Gogh. I read Lewis for pleasure, but I also study his form, his use of language, and the way he combines his ideas in the particular style unique to himself. I try to glean what I can from the way he writes, and bring it into my own writing. There is just one problem. Just as you, are not Michaelangelo or Van Gogh, I am not C.S. Lewis. Nor am I any other writer except myself. Much as I admire Lewis, I am a completely different writing, fed off of different writers from Lewis himself. My style evolved in a different way, as did my use of words and imaginative input.
When I first started writing in a serious way, I’d find that if I had read the works of Lewis or some other writer I greatly admire with a distinctive style (there are many) my work afterwards would take on that style. I was attempting to mimic their voice, their use of words, imagery, or even sometimes, their very story structuring, and make it work for me. It did not.
The first part of learning to properly study a master- and there always is a master in your field- is accepting your own work, and moreover, accepting you will never be Van Gogh or Michaelangelo. You are you, dear artist. You are not another. Your own history, both creatively and personally, affects the way you see the world in a way that is distinct from everyone else- including the masters. That is what you have to bring to the table. That is what makes your work worth sharing. Your own uniqueness, is why you must create in the first place. Yours. Your own.
When you accept that, you can channel what you have gleaned from the master in your own way.
And of course, once you have accepted yourself, there is nothing wrong with some allusion after all, an offering to the gods of your genre.