Calendar of Events
What I've learned about...
Week of Tuesday 26 July: Blogging
Week of Tuesday 2 August: Reading
Week of Tuesday 9 August: Writing
Week of Tuesday 16 August: Editing
Week of Tuesday 23 August: Querying
Week of Tuesday 30 August: Publishing
Most established writers will tell you that the most important thing for you to do as an aspiring author is read. All the time. But you rarely come across any elaboration on this point.
Quite frankly, if you are an aspiring author, you should not require elaboration on this point. When you hear an author tell you that the best thing you can do is "read all the time," this should brighten your life like a thousand-watt bulb. If you want to be an author, you should want to be a reader.
If you want to be an author, you should love reading already.
But I'll elaborate anyway, because I've learned a few things myself...
Let's start with this: The goal of any artist should be to create something new.
Imagine someone who wants with all their heart to become a successful musician...but the only band they have ever listened to is the Rolling Stones. From this, they would have the influences of the Rolling Stones, and through them, they would have the influences of all who influenced the Rolling Stones. And they would have nothing else.
On the other hand, imagine someone who wants with all their heart to become a successful musician...and they have poured their heart and soul into not only listening to, but studying everyone from Beethoven to Robert Johnson to Ella Fitzgerald to Elvis to the Rolling Stones to The Beatles to U2 to Radiohead to everyone in between (including plenty of those bands and artists who no one but other musicians have even heard of). From this, the musician in question would have a broad understanding of music, and their own unique approach to music could develop from this.
It is the same way with writing.
When I was on NPR a few weeks back, talking about The Great Lenore, I mentioned that I cut my teeth, as a reader, on commercial fiction. I don't write commercial fiction - for the most part, I'm not a big fan of commercial fiction - but I would not trade those early reading experiences for anything.
As a reader, I've explored everyone from Shakespeare to Poe to Conrad to Wilde to Hemingway to Steinbeck to Carver to King to McInerney to McEwan to McCarthy to Grisham to Eggers to everyone in between (including plenty of those authors who no one but other writers have even heard of). And through every book I read - whether it's similar to what I write or completely different, whether it's terrific or absolutely shabby - I learn something new.
Now, it's worth noting that reading is not always fun. When you read as a writer, you will find yourself picking apart a book. You will take note of what you feel it does well. You will take note of what you feel it should have done differently. If you're like me, you will even read with a pen in hand, and will mark everything you love, everything you hate, and just about everything else. Even when you choose to read a book to simply relax, you will find yourself studying instead. Most of the time, there is joy in this sort of reading. But sometimes, it's a pain.
Doesn't matter.
Read anyway.
Stephen King said (I believe in On Writing) that reading is the creative center of the writer's life. And this is true.
What have I learned about reading?
In summary: If you want to be a writer, you must first be a reader. And you must continue to be a reader. Without this, you're just another person with a pen in their hand or a computer on their desk. Without reading, you're one more voice that sounds exactly like every single other.
That's what I have learned about reading.
How about you?
Post a post of your own!
And come back next week to read what I have learned about writing, and to share what you have learned about writing as well.
Play nice and share with others
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
Posts
A few notes on this - First, does it have to be a novel in your opinion? What about blog posts? Articles online or in magazines? Facebook or google+ threads? What counts as "reading material"? Just looking for your opinion on this.
ReplyDeleteSecond, a big thank you for this post - you always share the most interesting things. I'm not sure what makes your posts "different". Perhaps because they are "real"? Hmmm... Just my brain rambling away.
Third, what are you reading right now? How much or how often do you read? Let's talk just books here, so I guess, how many a month?
This inquiring mind wants to know,
Nina
P.S. In case you didn't get my tweet, I bought your book today, YAY!
1. My opinion: If you want to write novels, reading novels counts as "reading material." If you want to write blog posts or articles, reading blog posts or articles counts as "reading material." However, you can certainly learn about techniques, rhythms, control, etc. by reading just about anything that "sounds" good to you - no matter what it is!
ReplyDelete2. Thanks! I think one of the best things a writer/blogger can do is just be honest. People are drawn toward genuine honesty, as it is disappointingly rare.
3. Right now, I am wrapping up "The Tiger's Wife" by Tea Obreht (hopefully I will finish it tonight), and then I'll be starting Vanessa Veselka's "Zazen." I try to pay less attention to how many books I read than I do to how often and how much I read. When I put too much emphasis on quantity, I find myself rushing through books instead of absorbing and learning things - and I also find myself picking up shorter books so I can cross them off as "read." I read two hours every night, before bed, and I try to read here and there throughout the day as well, whenever I have time.
P.S. Nice!
Neil Gaiman gave the best, and most challenging, writing/reading advice. I'm paraphrasing but he said: If you want to be a great writer you must read all the time. If you want to be a great fantasy writer, read fantasy to see what authors are doing, but let the majority of your reading be books outside the fantasy genre.
ReplyDeleteHe went on to elaborate about Tolkien and how most of Tolkien's reading was folklore and mythology and not the fantasy writers of his day.
That was challenging for me because I love reading fantasy so much. I've gradually making my way outside of the genre and am reading other things. My wife and I are reading "To Kill A Mockingbird" right now. I'm thinking of reading William Faulkner or Flannery O'Connor next. That'd be like jumping off the deep end for me.