Writing Interfering with my Reading

[Rorick]

I've not been at this seriously for very long. I've written fiction on and off for years, but in the last six months something has got a hold of me and dragged me into these worlds. Any down time, I'm writing or plotting or sketching and I'm usually daydreaming or thinking my way around conflicts in my plot. It's all good, I'm having a great time!

However.

My downtime traditionally has been taken up by reading. Lots of reading of all sorts of genres, fiction and non-fiction. I've started to write in earnest at the expense of my reading. I haven't finished a novel in months, though I've started several, and it's not down to the quality of the literature, which I'm enjoying. It's more that I can't keep my mind fixated in the world I'm reading about, it keeps going back to my stories, trying to think around the problems I've set.

Anyone else going mad or is it just me?

 

[Jabrosky]

I am in a similar predicament. I spend so much time thinking about writing that I have neglected actual reading. I also share with you the concentration issue. I wish I could give you advice on how to deal with it, but the truth is that it stumps me too.

 

[Ruby]

Hi Rorick, some people say that when you're writing a book you shouldn't read another writer's work in case it affects your own writing voice. Other people advise you to read lots of books so that you can learn how to improve your writing.

Personally, as someone who only has limited free time, I'm finding that I do more writing than reading. This is despite having loads of books I want to read/reread.

At the moment, however, I'm reading a children's book that I want to deconstruct in order to see how to do it in 25 chapters and a popular time travelling romance as I'm trying to discover how to sort out paradoxes. So I suppose it's all research, really.

I think that in order to write you have to be single minded and sacrifice other activities.

 

[chrispenycate]

Yeah, great, isn't it? I only started writing six years ago and it's already saved me a small fortune in bookshops.

 

[The Blue Lotus]

I've read one book in the last 5 years...
I know how ya feel. I have steamer trunks filled to the brim with books I want to read, have read, but would reread if I had the chance to. But I can't focus long enough to do so.
I don't even sleep without thinking about my work and how to fix it or just get it out there.
They tell me it is worth it in the end. I sure hope so because there are days when I feel like my brain is rotting.

 

[Steerpike]

I read tons of books still. I don't buy into the admonition against reading while you're writing. If there isn't time for both, that's another story, but I always have to read for a least a little while before bed.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I love to read! I read everything I can get my hands on, and my reading list is very long - but, yes, when I'm working on a project I can fall behind because writing eats up most of my day and I also love binge-watching TV shows on Netflix! But I came to the decision that I wanted to be a professional writer, not a professional reader, and if given an 8th day in the week honestly I would spend it playing in the world I write in. That doesn't mean I don't still love to read. I just read a bit more slowly these days, and tuck in reading time where I can.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

If you've found your voice, I think there's no worry about another author changing it. I believe reading has much more potential to help a writer hone his craft.

 

[icerose05]

My 12th grade English teacher once told me this, "If you're not a reader, then you're not a writer."

I take this advice to heart, because reading another author's work can help. While at times it does change your voice, you can learn different techniques to write a scene or gain inspiration for events in your own story. With the voice thing, I think you never have a solid voice, it's always changing, so personally I'm not concerned about this unless my voice is changing for the worse.

Also, people who don't read can't write. Now this isn't the same with everyone, but I've heard of many accounts, and experienced some myself, of people who want or are writing stories but they hate to read. This doesn't work for me. I'll read one of their stories, and their plot is all over the place, and they have horrible formatting and dialogue, not to mention the grammar!

That isn't always true though. I have met people who don't like reading, but they write excellent stories.

I find myself in the same situation sometimes, Rorick, and what I do is I balance the activities out. Both in my opinion are necessary, so I'll find a really good book or Fan Fiction and I'll sit down and read it, and then write some, or vice versa. Read whenever you can, don't just give it up.

 

[Jabrosky]

I have made more time to read in the past few days. In fact I just finished Steven Barnes' Great Sky Woman this morning (good book too). Now I am in the process of re-reading Charles R. Saunders' first Imaro book, which has wonderful world-building. I second the sentiment that reading can inspire or positively influence your own writing.

 

[Noma Galway]

I don't have much time for either anymore, but I read while I write for sure. I do pull from other works to help me improve my story. For instance, my Shadow of the Moon is an organization of religious assassins, pulled loosely from the Faceless Men in ASOIAF. I do more reading than writing still because reading is escapist for me and writing isn't so much because I deal with topics I don't necessarily want to deal with when I write. My WIP has recently taken a darker turn, and I don't enjoy writing it like that, but it is the story I need to tell.

I think that in order to write you have to be single minded and sacrifice other activities.

I disagree. I think in order to write you need to be involved in what you are involved in. I read. I will never sacrifice my reading in order to write. I can do both. I won't sacrifice my DnD game with my RL friends for writing. I love writing, but it needs to make room for reading and my friends.

 

[Devor]

I've talked about reading and creativity before, I won't repeat any of that here.

I do find it strange that people are talking about how reading affects their writing voice. I think your voice is one of the biggest reasons to read. You can get plotting and an understanding of the tropes from any number of sources. But reading is the only way you can pick up the language and the characterization that makes some of the more memorable characters. Novels are personal, and reading is the only way to get a feel for that.

 

[Svrtnsse]

My main issue is time. I just haven't really taken myself the time to read anything lately. There's too many other things I want to do more at the moment.