My writing does, without a doubt, incorporate elements from the authors and novels I've admired. I deliberately imitate their mannerisms, tactics, and word choices. But, before you ask how this method isn't plagiarised, consider this: Something about their work resonated deeply in my awareness. Therefore I'm voluntarily subjecting myself to the mastery of writers whose work I believe is the best representation of what I want my own stories to be.
Years ago, I was reading Enid Bagnold's National Velvet to a few of my older children, and one of my boys, who was little more than 10 at the time, said, "Mom, this lady imitated the way you write." In reality, even though I'd never written about a steeplechase or a governess with a strange background (The Chalk Garden), Bagnold's exquisite use of words had become part of my molecules, even though I hadn't yet been born when she was writing. Cheap essay writing service