Do you ever feel like the last author you read quietly changes the way you write?
I've started noticing a pattern that I can't tell is normal or not.
If I spend a few days reading the same author or even the same genre, my own writing starts to shift a little. The sentences become longer or shorter, the dialogue changes, or I start describing things in a way that doesn't really feel like my usual voice.
It's not something I do on purpose, and I usually don't even notice it until I go back and reread what I've written later.
Lately I've been adding one extra review with quetext before I call a draft finished, mostly to see if it still sounds like me after spending hours reading someone else's work.. I'm still not sure if that's actually helping or if it's just making me more aware of the way my writing changes.
Does this happen to anyone else?
Do you just accept that your voice naturally shifts depending on what you're reading, or do you have a way of getting back to your own style?