Thoughts & Things

Reading as a Writer

Just as many writers do, I enjoy reading and I have ever since I was a small child. I remember the works of Shel Silverstein, Robert Munsch, JRR Tolkien, and JK Rowling in particular inspired me to start writing when I was just small. As an adult, my inspirations and influences grow more diverse, and I think that's incredibly important. I've developed a pretty strong opinion on reading as a writer, and I just wanted to share that with anyone who might be interested.

As a writer, I feel that one needs to read everything. "Read everything" tends to be a pretty common piece of advice given and received as a writer. Personally, I don't feel that many people take the everything part completely seriously.

I think it's important to read advice on writing. Why learn from your mistakes when you can learn from the mistakes of others?Reading all of the traditional (and not-so-traditional) pieces on how to be a good writer (or how not to be a bad writer) can be a genuinely good way to learn new tips and tricks. The more of these you read, the more you can come to see what is genuine advice and what is simply the preference of the person giving you the advice.

I think it's important to read non-fiction. This is natural if you are a non-fiction writer, but as a fiction writer it is just as important. When reading advice on writing, you may come across the suggestion that you do research. This ties into that. This can be a matter of reading biographies, science books, historical non-fiction, and so on. Whether you are reading a guide on hand-guns, a book about tailoring in the Victorian era, or a biography of Ivan the Terrible, you can probably find a fact you'll use or a story that will inspire you.

I think it's important to read the genre you write. Read it all. I think it's so vital to see what stories are out there, what the market looks like, and which aspects of the genre work best for you. The more you read, the easier it is to pick apart. You can start to see the things you like (aspects you would like to use) and the things you don't like (aspects you want to avoid). You can see what styles suit the genre best, and how the biggest authors in the genre wrote to get where they are. You can take note of different subgenres that exist, and see which one suits you best. Not to mention, this is clearly your favourite genre, making this task not burdensome at all.

I think it's important to read books that are not the genre you want to write. This one can be difficult. I think it's so important to keep up with this though. Reading outside of your comfort zone can really open up your mind, and help you develop and expand upon your own style. You can find common things in other genres that you can apply to your genre of comfort to make it unique. You can really compare and contrast what makes different novels fit into different genres. It can help to inspire a new subgenre you may wish to explore (for example a romance writer reading a fantasy novel and deciding to create a fantasy romance work as a result). It can help you decide what really doesn't work for you, and where your boundary lines are drawn. You may discover a whole new genre that you never knew you would like better.

I think it's important to read the classics. This really allows you to look at plot devices and writing styles that have stood the test of time. It also allows you to see which trends in those classics did not stand the test of time. It's also a great chance to try to create your own modern version of a classic.

I think it's important to read the modern works. How can you write something people will love if you don't know what they love right now? It can be great to see where the writing industry is going. If you're interested in getting published, it can make a huge difference knowing what the current market trends are.

In order to be good at something, you have to train for it. Reading is how you train for writing. And if you don't train in different ways, you'll end up with some muscles being a bit weaker than others.