Finding true north

Are there books you love so much that you find their tone creeping up in your work? Where is the line between homage and plagiarism?

by Dietrich

The first question had me considering a list of favorite authors and the fiction that I grew up with, books I’ve cherished over the years. And that’s likely where every writer starts out — by reading when they were kids. I think that’s what a great novel does — it entertains and stays with us, even years later. For writers, it also inspires us to find our...