Last week I talked about how writers need to write. This week I want to discuss how writers also need to read. As writers we need to read a lot. There are several reasons why we need to be reading. We should be reading for learning opportunities, to support the writing community, and of course enjoyment. Each of these reasons for reading is equally important to us as writers.

Learning Opportunities

If we don’t read how can we be expected to write well? When we read we learn how other authors create their work. We see how they tell a story and develop their characters. When we read we have the ability to learn how seasoned authors have mastered their craft.

When we read we should make an attempt to read novels that are similar to what we are writing. We are not reading these books to make our novels sound like theirs. We never want to do that. We need to create unique stories that are our own. We should be reading to learn why these books are successful and apply what we learn into our own novels.

The book I am writing is about a young woman who travels across the country. After I finished my first draft I realized that the first 20,000 words weren’t working for the story. I kept struggling with ideas about how to make the beginning more interesting. My character just traveled from town-to-town and the story kept dragging on and on. Soon after I started working on the second draft I began reading The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub (Which I highly recommend everyone to read). I started reading this book because I enjoy reading both these authors. I had no idea what this book was about and just started reading. It must have been divine intervention that I started reading this novel; it’s about a boy who travels across the country.

I read how these two masters took their character, Jack Sawyer, across the United States. Seeing how they wrote their novel it opened my eyes to a new way to write my own story. With this new knowledge I deleted those 20,000 words and started the beginning over. While it was painful to do it was well worth it. My novel is so much better now that I made those changes.

Supporting the Writing Community

If we don’t read others’ work then why should we expect others to read ours? Karma, golden rule, whatever you want to call it, is an important principal to follow. Earlier this year at a convention I had the opportunity to hear published authors speak about writing. All the authors that were presenting knew one another and knew each others’ work. As they spoke they would reference each others’ novels as well as other authors’ writings.

Think of where you work now. While your colleagues work on different projects you probably have some inkling of what they are working on. Well, the other writers in the world are also your colleagues. We should and need to have an idea of what they are/have been working on. So we must read. After reading a book, tell people about it, get their book to sell more copies. It’s exactly what you hope happens to your own book one day.

Enjoyment

The main reason any of us read is for the enjoyment of it. Novelists write to entertain. While it is important to learn as we read, we don’t want to forget why we began reading in the first place. Enjoy yourself. Turn off your phone, curl up on the couch, crack open a book and spend an evening reading.

We get so busy in our lives that we don’t make time for reading. Since I have been focusing on editing my own book I can’t remember the last time I immersed myself in the world of a book. While it’s not a lot of time, I plan on taking 30 minutes a day and just reading.

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”

― Stephen King

It’s fun to read your favorite book over and over again or to read everything within a particular genre. Just don’t forget to expand your horizons. While I prefer reading fiction such as King and Straub I make it a point to read other types of work. I’ve read everything from classic fiction to modern nonfiction, and everything in between. It’s important to read a little bit of everything. It’s also fun when you read something that you were expecting to be boring and it turns out you just found your new favorite book.

Use the comments section to let us know what you are currently reading. If you have a topic you would like me to cover or a question you would like answered send me an email at Axeman@thisweekinwriting.com.

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