Why All Writers Must Be Readers
August 13th 2007 03:54
I am an avid reader. Fantasy, sci-fi, even a good mystery or suspense will make me happy.
There are a few damn good reasons to read, read widely, and read often. (Read something, even just a blog post, every day; write something, even just a blog post, every day)
The first one is because if you don't know what works-what makes a character appealing, a world realistic, a plot interesting or a culture fascinating-in other people's fiction (or even non fiction, but that's not what I'm talking about here), how the hell are you supposed to know what works in your own? How can you select a genre if you don't read it? How can you understand if your work's quality is up to par with that of some published writers, if you never read published writers?
Then there are the books on writing. You need to study and learn your craft. Period. There's no way around it. Your book will suck if you haven't read anything about characterization, plot, climax, resolution, all the things that make a story great.
You need to read to know which publishers publish books like yours, to read to know what level of quality a successful writer should have. You need to read because you need to be able to understand the functioning of a story, what is entertaining, what is interesting.
Reading should be just as much a part of you as writing is. By reading, and by buying books, you support other authors. You help keep them their livelihoods. You support the industry by buying books, because it needs customers in order to be successful. The more success they have, the more money they have to promote, market, distribute. All of that will, at some point, be important to you.
So, if you don't read, your writing is probably just as bad as 90% of fanfic. Someone once said that 90% of anything is crap-don't let your writing be part of that 90%.
Some recommended books:
On Writing, by Stephen King-it's funny, to the point, and not grammary at all (and it's sitting next to my desk)
A Series of Unfortunate Events-the best written best seller on the market
Money for Content and Your Clicks for Free (internet business of creativity) by JD 'Illiad' Frazer
The Vampire Chronicles- (Interview With A Vampire, the Vampire Lestat, and Queen of the Damned) by Anne Rice, beautifully written.
A Spell For Chameleon-Piers Anthony's Xanth-first book.
On A Pale Horse-part one of Incarnations, another Piers Anthony series
The Writer's Workshop-it's a pretty cool textbook they used to use in high school for creative writing, apparently. Whatever. By John F. Parker, published by Addison Wesley. (add an A and get Weasley)
Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith, a really cool YA paranormal romance.
That's it for now. I don't mention a lot of writing specific books because 90% of them are really boring crap.
Have fun reading!
There are a few damn good reasons to read, read widely, and read often. (Read something, even just a blog post, every day; write something, even just a blog post, every day)
The first one is because if you don't know what works-what makes a character appealing, a world realistic, a plot interesting or a culture fascinating-in other people's fiction (or even non fiction, but that's not what I'm talking about here), how the hell are you supposed to know what works in your own? How can you select a genre if you don't read it? How can you understand if your work's quality is up to par with that of some published writers, if you never read published writers?
Then there are the books on writing. You need to study and learn your craft. Period. There's no way around it. Your book will suck if you haven't read anything about characterization, plot, climax, resolution, all the things that make a story great.
You need to read to know which publishers publish books like yours, to read to know what level of quality a successful writer should have. You need to read because you need to be able to understand the functioning of a story, what is entertaining, what is interesting.
Reading should be just as much a part of you as writing is. By reading, and by buying books, you support other authors. You help keep them their livelihoods. You support the industry by buying books, because it needs customers in order to be successful. The more success they have, the more money they have to promote, market, distribute. All of that will, at some point, be important to you.
So, if you don't read, your writing is probably just as bad as 90% of fanfic. Someone once said that 90% of anything is crap-don't let your writing be part of that 90%.
Some recommended books:
On Writing, by Stephen King-it's funny, to the point, and not grammary at all (and it's sitting next to my desk)
A Series of Unfortunate Events-the best written best seller on the market
Money for Content and Your Clicks for Free (internet business of creativity) by JD 'Illiad' Frazer
The Vampire Chronicles- (Interview With A Vampire, the Vampire Lestat, and Queen of the Damned) by Anne Rice, beautifully written.
A Spell For Chameleon-Piers Anthony's Xanth-first book.
On A Pale Horse-part one of Incarnations, another Piers Anthony series
The Writer's Workshop-it's a pretty cool textbook they used to use in high school for creative writing, apparently. Whatever. By John F. Parker, published by Addison Wesley. (add an A and get Weasley)
Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith, a really cool YA paranormal romance.
That's it for now. I don't mention a lot of writing specific books because 90% of them are really boring crap.
Have fun reading!
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