Transcribing Books

The last few 'how to write' books I've read have given me and interesting tip in how to become a better writer:

Copy long passages out of your favorite books and written by your favorite authors.

So far I have chosen 5 books that were influential in me deciding that I want to write and that I have deemed worthy of spending several hours transcribing passages:

1. The Witching Hour - Anne Rice. I love this book, not necessarily for the story, but for the style. I love the long luxurious descriptions of the house in New Orleans. Those are the passages that I want to copy out. I want to learn to create a sense of place the way Anne Rice has here in this book recreating New Orleans. You actually feel like you can walk up the sidewalk and see the house and feel the humidity as you read along.

2. Ghost Story - Peter Straub. This book is haunting in it suspense. You can feel yourself trudging thru the snow at the end of the book in the final climax. You get scared shitless when the ghosts appear. You feel like an old man sitting in the library listening in on the other old guy's stories. I can't quite put my finger on what made this book so great, but it is one that has stuck with me ever since I read it. It's mesmerizing.

3. Atonement - Ian McEwan. Again this book is not my favorite story, but I love the first half of the book (before they all go off to war). The description and sense of place here again are amazing. It's like reading a modern day Victorian English novel. He writes more beautifully than any other modern author. In re-writing his words I hope to be able to suck up some of his polished use of the English language.

4. I Capture the Castle - Now this book I love the story. It's a fairy tale that has a little girl with a missing mother and a mad father living with her sisters in an old manor house next to a ruined castle. It's every little girl's English fantasy. There is something so romantic about the whole book. I want to put my finger on what it is that makes this book stand out for me. The only way to do that is to write it out.

5. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer. I know, but don't roll your eyes. This is the first book and the best book. I am going to transcribe out he first few chapters of this one so I can get a handle on dialog. There is something magical about this first book that hooked us all. To me it was the immense tension created in the first conversations between Bella and Edward. I want to take them apart and learn from them. That is the best sexual tension I have ever read.

Now as to when I'm going to find the time to actually do this I have no idea, but it theory it sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon.