Question: What Are You Reading?
If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. – Stephen King
Sometimes I think we forget that reading, as well as actually writing, is one of the fundamental skills needed to write well. Besides being an incredibly enjoyable and rewarding pastime (it is my own belief that we grow as a person with every book we read, whether it is good or bad), reading is the diet of a writer.
From everything that you read, be it classics, crime, romance, graphic novels, science-fiction, horror, or anything else for that matter, there is something to take to improve your writing. This can be that you learn of something to do, and it can be even about learning what not to do. If you’ve just read a book and you hated it or found it hard to read, have a look at why you didn’t like it. And then avoid doing that thing in your own work.
With this post, I had thought of going through my recently read books and talking about how I felt they had helped me improve and develop my writing. However, I think it would be much more interesting, and in the end more helpful, if I threw the floor open to you all. So, I’d like to ask you the question…
What Are You Reading?
What are you reading right now? Or what have you just read? This doesn’t have to be a book that you love, as I said above you might be really struggling with this book, but that in itself will be telling you about something you perhaps shouldn’t be doing in your writing. I’d like you all in the comments below to share what you are writing and how it helps your own writing. It’s as simple as that. I’m sure we can build up a fantastic collection of useful insights and advice on how we can better our writing, and it will be interesting to see where they come from. I also hope that it will show how important it is for us as writers to indulge and immerse ourselves in our reading, and not to neglect it. Sometimes it may feel like we are wasting time by just reading, but it really is time well spent.
So, to get the ball rolling, here we go:
What Am I Reading?
Well, I’ve just finished Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I’d never actually read it before, but of course I knew what a masterpiece it is considered, and I’m obviously aware of its impact on literature and the horror genre. After reading it, I am not at all surprised at the impact it had. It really is a wonderfully written, well-realised story on what it means to be human, the thirst for knowledge and it is just a brilliant tale of both horror and, in fact, probably one of the first examples of science fiction. I loved it, as I expected I would.
What Did I Learn From It?
Reading masterful writing like that in Frankenstein is always an absolute joy, and it has really inspired me to work hard at my writing. If someone such as Shelley can write such an important, powerful novel at the tender age of nineteen, then why can’t I? Why can’t you?
Apart from the inspiration, something else that I took from Frankenstein was its interesting narrative structure. It begins with letters sent by a man who rescues Victor Frankenstein from the ice, and it is to this man that Victor then recounts what has happened. In this way the story is told in a very direct manner, and it made me the reader feel as though this tale is being told personally to me. Also, Shelley’s decision to write several chapters from the monster’s point-of-view was, at the time, revolutionary, and brings a powerful perspective to the novel.
So… Please Share Your Thoughts!
Please let us know what you are reading, and how the writing has helped you develop your own skills, in the comments below. I’m really looking forward to see what you’re all reading and the skills you’re learning!
Images courtesy of me!
Christopher Jackson is the Editor for Fuel Your Writing and a creative copywriter. He is currently working on Project: Snotbook, an interactive children’s storybook for iPad.
I’m reading Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”.
Been working on it for over a year.
Verbosity is what I’m learning… or learning about.
Her style and mine differ tremendously, though I love the ideas presented and the way they are weaved metaphorically throughout the novel. When it becomes didactic and obvious, however, I feel like I am listening to a sermon rather than being moved or inspired by the story. Personally, I prefer the metaphorical approach.
Sounds very interesting Eric! Learning about style is something that I didn’t mention in the post, but it is very important. Even though we are all writing, we all have our different styles, and learning about how we can make them work is really useful.
Thanks for your insights! Good luck finishing the book! :)
My oldest daughter gave me that book a while back. I’ve had it on my shelf, intending to read it. Every time I look at it’s length I back off.I’m one of those people who, if the book doesn’t grab me right away I don’t pick it back off and then giving the length of this one … well … you see how I am. You mention “verbosity”. Does that mean she says a lot that could have been said in a lot less words? Is it at least interesting? I may eventually go ahead and read it; so far I’ve just not had that desire.
It is definitely an interesting book! The ideas and the meaning behind everything is definitely her focus, but she could have been far more brief while keeping it interesting.
I completely understand what you mean about not being motivated to pick it up. This is actually my second time trying to get through it. Every night I struggle with that same fight, not being motivated to read something so long and so didactic. I’m always glad I picked it up once I have, but it can feel like a chore at times.
Overall, though, I’m very glad I’m reading it. Definitely worth the investment. (And while the movie adaptation left a lot to be desired and was far less interesting than the novel, it does a great job of getting the messages across.)
I mentioned this in another FYW post, but I’m reading Stephen Fry’s autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot. I love the writing style since I can hear his speaking voice in my head as I read it. It goes off on tangents and has so much of his British wit.
A really good example of someone writing like they speak then, which is good advice!
Thanks for commenting Jennifer!
If I wrote like I speak, you’d get a lot of “y’all come back now, ya here”. Oh — I guess every now and then I do.
I still love to read. Sometimes, it’s even easier to choose reading over writing because there’s not as much pressure, ha.
Anyway, I’m reading The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell and just finished Incendiary by Chris Cleave – which was AMAZING.
I know what you mean Lizzie, reading is very good pressure-free writing practice!
What do you think you are learning, in terms of your writing, from The Partly Cloudy Patriot and Indendiary?
I guess that just shows that I am really new to writing. Even though I’ve been writing off and on since I was 12 (I am now 61), I have only now gotten serious about it. So far, I have more trouble getting one story down before another is cropping up. It’s like they are all jumbled in my head. Nice to know something is up there. But, I haven’t yet felt any pressure to write. I suppose that will come when I begin getting published.
My reading “habit” could be considered…dangerous, for I am always reading at least two books at a time. Unfortunately, this interferes with my writing time and, (I’m sorry to say), I don’t discipline myself enough to choose writing over reading as I should, at times.
That out of the way – right now I’m reading the classic shorts of southern writers – Fitzgerald, O’Conner, Welty, Hemingway, etc – mainly because this is not only the way I want to write, but also because the stories are so thoroughly enjoyable. The language of Fitzgerald is so astoundingly beautiful I often read one sentence several times before moving on to another, and the shock factor in O’Conner’s suspense, (think A Good Man is Hard to Find), is downright chilling. I’m also reading Joyce Carol Oates’s Mysteries of Winterhurn, (I believe I mentioned her in your last post). Set in the late 19th – early 20th century, the language is very different, (and she does this better than anyone else I’ve read).
Recently my suspense flash has garnered a lot of positive comments, so I’m currently experimenting with that, and these stories are helping me immensely in showing exactly how to use voice, dialect, and language in general in order to keep the suspense flowing.
A great example of a horrible book, (that I spent entirely too much time on), that taught me what Not to do, was David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle – oh, what a terrible story! If they had taken the word “and” out of half of it the book could’ve been a novella, (and possibly interesting), rather than the 600+ page epic it is. The worst part of it was the ending, so terribly disappointing! The story was so bad I ended up writing a flash about my experience of reading it – Wasted Time http://theothersideofdeanna.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/back-by-popular-demand-wasted-time-fridayflash-amwriting/. Granted I was not very kind to the author here, but I felt so cheated I didn’t care, (very unlike me).
Thanks for another great post Chris! I’m anxious to hear what everyone’s reading.
I tend to read several things at a time, as well AND write at least 5 pages a day; some days many more. For me, it’s probably a little easier. I am retired and this is what I do. If I’m not reading everything I get my hands on, I’m writing. I love it.
Thanks for your very detailed response (once again) Deanna!
I’m definitely with you on pouring over sentences and passages of the best writers, sometimes something will just stand out as so perfectly crafted that it is a great example to study and take. We can learn so much from just one sentence!
Also, a very good lesson taken from the last book you mentioned – you mustn’t leave your readers feeling cheated! Especially if you are going to take a huge amount of their time with a long book, you’ve got to give them a payoff.
Thanks again Deanna.
When I had begun writing at age 16 I had already read a great bit from school and my own enjoyment. I also read multiple genres: fantasy, science fiction, adventure, mystery, horror, paranormal, and comedy. High school language arts doesn’t teach you how to write a book; all they teach you is the mechanics of writing and the writing process and the parts of a story. I was briefly introduced to dialogues and speaker tags. I studied how books were constructed in general from reading books and and mirrored the concept. So in other words, I basically taught myself how to write a book.
When writing my own books I didn’t want to just stick to one genre. I wanted to stick all my favorite genres into one and pick out the best qualities of each, but the common thread that each of them have is action and adventure. What I learned from some of the classics like “The Scarlet Letter” and “Moby Dick” is to not have long drawn out descriptions. That put me to sleep and I never could find the storyline–the stuff has to move! I didn’t do well on the comprehension quizzes because I was like “Where was that at?” I missed things because they were embedded in the lengthy descriptions somewhere; it was one two page description after the other. I like books that get into the action almost at the very beginning and stays throughout with just enough description to know what the people or places look like–no fine details.
Right now I am dabbling into nonfiction books a bit. Most nonfiction I had ever read were scientific books about phenomena I thought was interesting or about animals or plants that interest me. Some of this I put in my own books. I read about my favorite places I want to go to someday for possible settings in my books, and I read beekeeping books because my dad and I are beekeepers. I’ve tried a couple memoirs by author friends of mine and found them to be touching or fun.
I write mostly in the horror genre, but occasionally I will go into children’s stories or a little non-fiction articles. I am actually working on a sci-fi novel right now, in between all my short horror stories.
Thanks for your in-depth response Amanda! I agree with you that story often gets bogged down in reams of description, especially with older texts. When seen in modern writing it really gets in the way. Far better to chose one or two vivid observations and flesh out the world of your story that way. Readers’ imaginations are powerful, they can fill in the blanks you leave! As long as you don’t leave too many…
Thanks again!
I am reading “1001 Symbols: An Illustrated Guide to Imagery and its Meaning” by Jack Tresidder. My next book will have to do with heroes and include mythological symbols.
Reading also “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell.
Reading is an integral part of all my research. When I’m not writing, I read. I also steal!
That 1001 Symbols sounds like a book I need to obtain. I am always having to look things up with google when I am doing something that needs that sort of stuff. I would probably still use my google, but it couldn’t hurt to have a book like that as a reference.
Good point about “stealing”, Frederick. As long as we don’t blatantly plagarise, there is nothing wrong with taking ideas, details and other things from the books we enjoy and incorporating them into our own work.
“Everything is a remix”, after all!
Thanks for commenting!
Joseph Campbell is a must read! “Hero with a Thousand Faces” is the epitome of character, arc, and structure. It’s not always the most enjoyable read, but as a reference guide it is top-notch!
For a quicker read, based on and inspired by Campbell, you may also like Christopher Vogler’s “The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers.”
I just finished reading an e-book I found on-line, by Amanda Hocking called The Hollows. I was surprised at how good it was. She writes YA, so I guess I’m a 61 year old YA. I am currently reading Stephen Kings On Writing. I think I like it better than his fiction. I also have several books on the craft of writing that I’ve been reading. One I recently completed that I feel really taught me a lot is called Steering The Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin. Each chapter of this book has numerous exercises to assist you with your writing techniques. I guess I work well with that sort of format. I came out with a couple of short stories from that; not my best work, but still …
I belong to fanstory.com and often read stories on there and give critiques. Some of the stories and poetry are really good, while others are just terrible. I think I learn more from the terrible stuff than I do the good. If nothing else, I learn how to recognize mistakes in my own work quicker.
Glad to hear you are enjoying Stephen King’s On Writing, I’m a huge fan of his work but that is a particularly fantastic book of his that I think any aspiring writer should reader, even if they don’t normally like his fiction.
Good point MJ on learning more from bad stories than the good, I think you’re right! Places like fanstory.com and other online resources are good for reading a range of stories, good and bad, so are perfect for finding writing that you can pick holes in and learn from!
Thanks for commenting MJ.
Couldn’t agree more!! “On Writing” is one of my all-time favorites! And not just in books about writing!
So excited you brought this up!
If you haven’t read this one, do so!
It’s brilliant, isn’t it Eric? Not just useful in a practical sense, but a very interesting look at the road King took to becoming a writer, and very inspiring too.
I would love it if y’all would do a piece about publishers. Since I’ve been getting into all this on-line I’ve had more e-mails and phone calls from so-called editors. I say so-called because I really think they are either vanity press or fakes. When I had a so-called rep from a book publishing company call me the other day, he wasn’t pleased that I was going to ask my writing coach from LRWG about his company. He began reading from some site he said he pulled up saying that Long Ridge was a fake and that they couldn’t be trusted and that my coach, Tom Hyman (worte Jupiter’s Daughter and others) was not an author at all. I haven’t heard from him again. But it seems like an article about this sort of thing could really be helpful — especially to newbies like me.
MJ
That’s a step in the right direction asking someone you know is reputable and doing research. Always check back on people/companies. As a newbie I was scalped by a vanity publisher even though I asked a lot of questions, but unfortunately they are too good at lying and didn’t have enough info. I’m on the road to recovery and have learned a lot which I can share. “The Fine Print” by Mark Levine is a good book to know who the biggest vanity publishers are and why, but he doesn’t list them all, but he gives you insight on how to spot a bad deal and what questions to ask and what defines a good company. Google people/businesses and check the BBB to see if they have had a lot of complaints against them regardless if they are resolved. People talk about bad people/publishers/agents on forums. Google will display them. Writer’s Beware is another good place to research
Thanks Amanda. This is some very helpful information. I’m glad I posted that note.
I’m reading three books at the moment. There’s the Complete Ghost Stories of Charles Dickens, a book that explains quantum mechanics using science fiction, and a book on the English Civil Wars. The latter two are useful for expanding my knowledge base, and the historical text is for research for my novel, but the Dickens is just for fun. Sometimes it’s nice to look back at the classics and learn about storytelling from a different era.
I just started reading Tom Hyman’s book, Jupiter’s Daughter. It is about human cloning. I’m only on chapter 4, but am really enjoying it.
I am trying to write a sci-fi novel and need to be reading some things to help me with that. I thought would get something of Asmov’s and maybe Doug Adams and Ray Bradbury. I’ve read some of the really old classics (H.G. Wells, Time Maching and Jules Verne, Journey to the Center of the Earth) I just need to read some more modern writers. Do you have any you would reccommend? Do you know any sites that might help me with the science of the sci-fi? I’ve never written anything in this genre, but I am excited about it.
Depending on your “genre” of sci-fi there could be any number of good authors to look into.
Asimov is great for robots, cyborgs, etc.
Verne is great at voicing the explorer.
Bradbury is the master of the intangible issues: morals, ethics, etc.
What sort of sci-fi story are you working on?
Remember, it doesn’t always have to be 100% accurate, especially not in the first draft. Sci-fi at its best is about the human condition, not just the science.
We all still bought that the Flux Capacitor “is what makes time travel possible.”
Thanks Eric,
I think I really need to read some Ray Bradbury. My story is going to really express some ethical issues. I would like to see how he handles those areas. My story will cover the politics of the Empire for which one of the main characters is about to become the new emperor. Slavery is a big issue that he is strongly against. It will highlight his brother’s objections to his desire to abolish slavery. His brother goes to great lengths to get rid of him so he can become emperor instead. My main character is helped by an earth man who is sort of a biker type. I just hope I can pull this off. But I know one of the things I need to do is read a lot of sci-fi. I never have read a lot of it. Now it’s time. Who knows, maybe their ship will have a flux capacitor.
I might recommend “The Martian Chronicles” or of course “Fahrenheit 451″ if you’re looking to get Bradbury’s voice on ethics.
Based on your storyline you may also want to look into “Hamlet” or “MacBeth”.
For a sci-fi polifical thriller, you might also want to look into Aristotle’s “Ethics” and “Politics” or Plato’s “The Republic”. Sometimes the best way to see the future is thru the lens of the past.
Feel free to email me if you’d like to chat further.
Sounds like an intriguing project! Best wishes for your writing adventure!
inspiration_searchlight@yahoo.com
Thank you Eric. I never would have thought about such authors as Shakespear, Aristotle and Plato. I do see how these can be helpful. Thanks also for the reccommendations of the Bradbury books. I will certainly take a look at these. Maybe, if I read enough, I’ll be able to write something that turns into a best seller. I’ll be in touch to let you know how thing are progressing.
Eric, and MJ, I agree that Farenheit 451 is a fantastic book to study, (and to read for the simple joy of reading). I’d also recommend Bradbury’s short stories – all of them are wonderful of course and they’ve taught me a lot about pacing and structure, which I believe would work whether you’re writing a novel or shorts. In any case, thanks for brining Bradbury back to mind at this particular moment; I’m going to the beach this next week and thought I had all my reading material chosen, but….well, gotta go back through the shelves now. :)
Deanna, I’m right there with you when it comes to getting to the library. Eric gave me a lot to think about and to read. While I am there I will go ahead and pick up some of Bradburry’s shorts as well. thanks for the post.
Wassup, I’m reading Ernest Hemingway on Writing. It consists of various quotes from Hemingway on the art of writing from his letters, short stories and novels. I’m learning the mindset of writing and the tools that are necessary to become an extroardinary writer.
Sounds like an interesting book, Omar. Are you enjoying it?
I love this question. I’m always reading at least two or three books, I like to switch it up, and unless a book really grabs my attention, I like to be able to switch from something long, to a short story, or maybe something fun.
Right now I’m reading The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaños. (in Spanish, part of the snobbish attitude of reading it in the language it was written, if I can) and I keep going back to some of Anton Chekhov’s short stories. I’m about to start Fight Club, also, which I’ve been looking forward to reading for a while.
It seems to me that the more I write, the more I want to read. Lately I always have at least 3 books going at the same time; plus 2 magazines in the field (The Writer and Writer’s Digest). I read the magazines cover to cover. They have so much great information. Then there are the sample magazines I have collected from my list of “who to send stories and articles to”. And, of course all the on-line stuff I find to read that more than relates to the art and craft of writing. I’ve found that with my writing, reading, and submitting I have given myself a full time job and I’m loving it.