A moment in Alice’s interview with Eliza Clark for In Haste this week that really stood out to me was when she talked about mimicry:
‘I know I'm a good mimic,’ she said.
‘I know I'm really, really good at mimicking what people do and say.
‘I'm good at picking up on speech patterns and particular kind of words, and I'm good at constructing voices for people that sound different…
‘…it can sometimes be a little bit frustrating, actually, when you are working in that world of mimicry, because people might not necessarily see it as the skill that it is. Because it's not always super flashy, super beautiful prose. Or it is relying on dated slang that some people might find a bit cringey, but I suppose for things to not sound perfect, and for things to sometimes sound a bit dated and embarrassing, is an important part of mimicry.’
I’ve been thinking about this ever since I first heard it, because I think it’s one of the most difficult skills to develop in writing fiction: for voices to sound real without actually being real.
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