Reading every day is almost as important as writing every day for a writer.
Why?
Because reading creates a foundation of knowledge that pays off over and over again for a writer.
That foundation includes the content that we read, especially if we’re reading craft books and how-to books. But, it also pays off big time when we read works in our own genre.
If you’re writing mystery, seeing how another author plots and paces their book informs you. If you’re writing literary fiction, seeing how another author describes setting informs you. If you’re reading thrillers, seeing how another author develops tension informs you. On and on it goes. Seeing how another author entrances you, attracts you, engages you informs your writing.
There are some authors who say they don’t want to read because it might inform their writing, might alter what they’re writing. I say, that’s exactly why you want to be reading. We should be influenced by all the work that has come before our own.
We simply become better writers by reading the work of others.
Stephen King wrote “if you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.”
It really is that simple. We become better writers when we read…
Join us for a discussion of Kings, On Writing, Thursday, January 30, at 7 pm.
