Writing vs Reading

[Jason]

Someone, is doing it on my Kindle Unlimited KENP read.

 

[Miles Lacey]

The objectively correct way to read is to read a couple of pages multiple times over, reflect on the pretty prose and interesting facts, let your mind wander and then do the same thing for the next two pages a week later. That's the trick to stretching out a single book to a months-long time-burner.

I only read when I go to the toilet so that means it takes about a few months to read a decent sized tome. Plenty of time to take in the sentence structure, the use of words, the description of the settings (which can really come alive with the right sort of writing style), the dialogue and other things.

Reading is also a chance to find out what I like and loathe in fiction and to look for styles that could be resurrected because they haven't been used for such a long time. J K Rowling resurrected the British boarding school genre from the grave with her Harry Potter series. By adding fantasy elements she turned a long dead genre into something people wanted to read about.

I found I liked the style of the pulp fiction crime writers and I've adapted it for my work in progress.

 

[Ned Marcus]

So, I'm in a bit of a conundrum here. Like everyone else here, I enjoy writing fiction, especially speculative fiction. However, I must confess that I am not an avid reader of books. Idk what it is, I just struggle to finish anything I try to read.

Have you ever been an avid reader of books?

I think reading a lot helps, but it doesn't have to be all the time. When I'm writing, I tend to read less. Is there any type of book you like reading, even if not fantasy?

 

[D. Gray Warrior]

Have you ever been an avid reader of books?

I think reading a lot helps, but it doesn't have to be all the time. When I'm writing, I tend to read less. Is there any type of book you like reading, even if not fantasy?

Well, despite being a frequenter of a fantasy writing forum, I only ever read one novel that could be classified as your standard medieval fantasy literature: Eragon. Maybe also Redwall, since it's also Medieval, but there's nothing "fantastical" about the setting that I can recall aside from there being anthropomorphic animals.

Most of the other fantasy literature I have read is based on Classical Mythology like the Percy Jackson series or more of an urban fantasy novel.

I do like the Daniel X series, though that's sci-fi.

In general, I don't like novels that are too lavish with their prose. I end up skipping over paragraphs of descriptions and would prefer the novel get to the point. There are obviously exceptions, like Redwall as I mentioned above.

 

[The Dark One]

Well, despite being a frequenter of a fantasy writing forum, I only ever read one novel that could be classified as your standard medieval fantasy literature: Eragon. Maybe also Redwall, since it's also Medieval, but there's nothing "fantastical" about the setting that I can recall aside from there being anthropomorphic animals.

Most of the other fantasy literature I have read is based on Classical Mythology like the Percy Jackson series or more of an urban fantasy novel.

I do like the Daniel X series, though that's sci-fi.

In general, I don't like novels that are too lavish with their prose. I end up skipping over paragraphs of descriptions and would prefer the novel get to the point. There are obviously exceptions, like Redwall as I mentioned above.

Well... good luck.

 

[skip.knox]

I do read fantasy, but it does not form the majority of what I read. I have found any number of useful writerly things in general reading, and not much from fantasy stories. I do think reading (in-genre or out) can help a writer, but that's not a guarantee; and I do not think that not reading is necessarily fatal (or even detrimental) to a writer, but only that not reading is guaranteed not to be helpful.

 

[Devor]

I normally find myself pushing back a little against the advice to read a lot. In this thread I find myself wondering where all the readers went?

The thing is, I understand not reading much. We have to prioritize our time, reading can sometimes be over-stressed, and you have to find your own ideas and techniques, which looking too much at other people's ideas and techniques can lead you away from.

But I don't understand not wanting to read more.

You don't have to read a lot to be a writer. But surely there's got to be some love of the written word... shouldn't there?

 

[pmmg]

Well, I have said many times, I am not a reader, but even I have read a bit more than Gray Warrior is admitting to. For me, its kind of home work. Not really enjoyment.

To have only Eragon, which was not great to start with, as the only book in the read column is a bit further in the uninitiated side than I would want to be. I think you should do some homework.

 

[Finchbearer]

I normally find myself pushing back a little against the advice to read a lot. In this thread I find myself wondering where all the readers went?

The thing is, I understand not reading much. We have to prioritize our time, reading can sometimes over-stressed, and you have to find your own ideas and techniques, which looking too much at other people's ideas and techniques can lead you away from.

But I don't understand not wanting to read more.

You don't have to read a lot to be a writer. But surely there's got to be some love of the written word... shouldn't there?

I don’t know why…now in hindsight, but I came to this forum in part because I thought I’d be amongst people who liked to write, and I also assumed that those people also loved to read. I was surprised (and now I’m not) at just how many people are brought to try their hand at writing their own fantasy story from a gaming perspective. What is it about gaming that makes people want to write a novel? It’s an interesting thought to me, and maybe I’ve questioned it’s legitimacy, but maybe it’s perfectly reasonable that playing an immersive RPG would be a catalyst to want to tell stories of your own.

 

[The Dark One]

I'm actually stunned at the number of non-readers or infrequent readers in this discussion.

I know DDN has been quite successful without being much of a reader but who else has been commercially published... or even self-published... without being much of a reader?

Not being judgmental... just interested.

 

[Ban]

I'm actually stunned at the number of non-readers or infrequent readers in this discussion.

I know DDN has been quite successful without being much of a reader but who else has been commercially published... or even self-published... without being much of a reader?

Not being judgmental... just interested.

Bit of a tangent, but you using the acronym DDN has at last made we realise that his name is demesne de noir, domain of black, and not my butchered demesnedoir. Did a little forum search and it seems that I hold the record for "demesnedoir" misspellings, though I am not alone. Sorry Demesnedenoir, only took me eight years to realise this

 

[Azul-din]

Wow- any other hyperlexians out there? I'm exaggerating of course. But I read obsessively from a very early age-. Later I was forbidden to read at mealtimes and used to read the cereal packets at breakfast. The only reading matter in our house was the Reader's Digest, although later on we got the Condensed Books, and I read both constantly. I began writing my own stories as a teenager and continued for years thereafter. It didn't stem from a burning urge to create but from a desire to immerse myself in my own private world. Then when I managed to get two books of my short stories published by Tartarus Press I felt I had really arrived as a writer. It was not until later that I realized that 'these stories speak in many different voices' actually meant that I was copying the manner and style of all my favorite authors. Later on I had perforce to develop my own voice, an ongoing battle.

I still read about a book a week, and audiobooks at bedtime to help me sleep. I consider Kindle to be one of the great achievements of the modern age , not least because the type size can be changed to suit, a boon in old age.

In response to the foregoing, I would say that a good foundation of books that you read because you liked them is a great boon when constructing a variety of characters and plots. There is, I believe, a danger inherent in writing entirely sui generis in that everything begins to sound and feel like the writer. Imagine being trapped in an elevator or a train compartment with no one to talk to but yourself.

 

[pmmg]

DDN is dems?

Never went beyond, thats a long and hard to spell name myself.

I'm actually stunned at the number of non-readers or infrequent readers in this discussion.

I know DDN has been quite successful without being much of a reader but who else has been commercially published... or even self-published... without being much of a reader?

Not being judgmental... just interested.

I dont know the answer, but...without a comparison to those who read and been commercially published, it would not tell you anything. Those who are successfully published are also the survivors. Those who didn't make it may not be around to count. I might also ask, how many writers, who were interested enough to join forums and writing groups made it, and is that number greater or less than just those who read and try, and those that dont and try. I would suspect, those who join groups are showing more than average interest, and are putting energy in. But even from that group, we may just be looking at the survivors.

What percentage of ppl who sign up for a forum actually go on to participate?

 

[Finchbearer]

In response to the foregoing, I would say that a good foundation of books that you read because you liked them is a great boon when constructing a variety of characters and plots. There is, I believe, a danger inherent in writing entirely sui generis in that everything begins to sound and feel like the writer. Imagine being trapped in an elevator or a train compartment with no one to talk to but yourself.

I think I’m around fifty years behind you, if I remember correctly…but as a fellow reader I would have thought It would be like trying to write in an echo chamber. I feel I’ve seen that a few times on here with critique requests, and I can often hear that person trying to talk in their heads of what a written story should sound like.

Maybe it’s like wanting to be an architect without ever having an interest in buildings, or an artist without appreciating art, or a musician without enjoying listening to music. You could be compelled to tell a story without having an interest in reading, but what drives you to want to be a writer without having an interest in reading?

 

[pmmg]

The Age of Grey Warrior may matter here as well. Its one thing to be 20 and read only one book, and another to be 50. Maybe hes just not there yet, and slow at getting on it.

 

[Azul-din]

I think I’m around fifty years behind you, if I remember correctly…but as a fellow reader I would have thought It would be like trying to write in an echo chamber. I feel I’ve seen that a few times on here with critique requests, and I can often hear that person trying to talk in their heads of what a written story should sound like.

Maybe it’s like wanting to be an architect without ever having an interest in buildings, or an artist without appreciating art, or a musician without enjoying listening to music. You could be compelled to tell a story without having an interest in reading, but what drives you to want to be a writer without having an interest in reading?

so true. I think Sartre was wrong. Hell isn't other people, it's being trapped inside talking to yourself.

 

[pmmg]

so true. I think Sartre was wrong. Hell isn't other people, it's being trapped inside talking to yourself.

and other people

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Obsessed with story doesn't necessarily mean being obsessed with reading. If you've a knack for writing, a natural, or whatever you wanna call it, you can study story more efficiently by viewing movies.* When studying screenwriting before, during, and after classes at UCLA, I watched a couple thousand movies. Blockbuster alone, the guy behind the counter chuckled because I just had my 666th rental. The funny thing is, in my experience, there are very few people who want to teach you how to write outside of grammar, but scads of people who want to teach you "storytelling" in one form or another. In my pre-UCLA university days with writing classes, it was almost like nobody wanted to tell you if you were any good at the actual act of writing. Screenwriting as a discipline is a bit different, and people will go after your writing, which is useful.

Another thing I noticed about myself when I was younger was that I was a natural mimic. If I was reading Tolkien I'd start writing more like Tolkien. Whatever I was reading, I would write a bit like. I think my voice is set in stone now, but I am still paranoid of reading somebody and having it affect my prose.

In the 80's, when I was at my most avid reading, the selection was poor. Not that it's much better now, considering my pickiness.

EDIT: My one huge mistake in life was being an arrogant punk and not making a run at Iowa Writers Workshop. I had a professor who would've been an "in" at the university and a couple of other favorables on my side... but I didn't bother for some bizarre reason. I will never know what I might have learned from those people if lucky enough to get in.

*My editor almost never reads books for pleasure anymore, and for entertainment watches movies because of the lesser time commitment.