When he started writing original stories at age 11, Christopher Luna tried mimicking horror maestro Stephen King and expert mind-bender Rod Serling. Later on, it was “grownup” novelist John Irving. Then he tried writing like beat poet Allen Ginsberg — who started out trying to write like Walt Whitman. The poetry of Ginsberg lead directly to the novels of Jack Keroac, who wanted to write like some combination of James Joyce, American outlaw and the Buddha.
All creative writers start out absorbing and, yes, mimicking the voices who came before them. But because writing is essentially a solitary and sometimes lonely pursuit, all writers also crave the community of fellow writers in the here and now — for stimulation, for education, for support and encouragement.
“You feel like there’s this big mysterious world or whole group of people who have information you don’t have, who know something you don’t know,” Luna remembered about his early days of scribbling away. “You know where you want to go, but you don’t know how to get there.”
When he fell in love with poetry in his late teens and early 20s, Luna also fell in love with building literary community. He spent about a year reading his fledgling verse in every live situation he could find — and rubbing elbows with fellow poets, artists, musicians.