The Guilty Reader -

Last week I came across a blog post by a newer author (newer to me means less than seven years in the business) who likes to list lessons learned from the previous year. This year they posted about giving themselves permission to enjoy reading.

That made me pause.

Then I read their explanation. They talked about deserving the right to enjoy reading books and, almost in a tone of defiance, said that being an author shouldn’t steal away the joy of reading.

Oh my precious child.

I couldn’t believe they felt reading for pleasure was something they had to fight or defend.

Reading is not a luxury for writers.

It’s part of the job description.

Reading as Training

Reading helps a writer hone their skills.

It helps to fill the creative well. Reading fills your subconscious with ideas, for example you could get to the end of a story and think oh what if the story had gone this way instead of that? And then give the story your own unique twist.

I am truly heartbroken when I meet new writers who tell me they can’t read anymore. Why?

Either because they’ve become too critical to enjoy reading anymore or they’re too scared that their writing will be influenced by what they read (Little do they know that they’ve already been influenced by thousands of stories and they need to get over it).

Writers who think like this don’t last very long.

Reading as Inspiration

Recently, I read a short story that ‘sounded’ as if it had been written thirty years ago. I later discovered the writer hadn’t read any recent (i.e. stories written in this century) in the genre because they loved only the ‘classics’. Sadly it showed. It was like reading someone who’d come out of a decades long coma.

If the story had been a parody (like spy Austin Powers emerging from a cryogenic state into modern times) or satire, the story style and tone would have worked, but alas, the story was deadly serious.

Reading to Learn

Reading and staying current is important. Be inspired by the past, but also the present. Writers who know how things have changed are the ones with the skills to make what was once ‘old’ new again.

Think about a musician borrowing the sound of the 50s or 70s and giving them an updated spin.

That’s what you can do with your work.

I also recommend you read outside of your genre. Mix it up. Read what you love and read something different.

Even read what you’re not used to, it can open your eyes. You don’t have to love everything you read, but it helps to see what other readers love to get an insight into the mechanics of storytelling.

But I will caution you not to read what you hate. Reading is not homework. This is life, not school, there’s no point in self-inflicted drudgery. I don’t care how popular a trend or trope is, if it doesn’t sing to your soul, if it makes you cringe, ignore it and move on.

But aside from practice, inspiration and learning let’s talk about the most important factor you’ll gain from reading—joy.

Reading as Joy

Reading is an essential part of being a writer. (Don’t believe me? Read Stephen King’s seminal book On Writing and get back to me). Most long term professionals know that reading is essential for learning, growth, skill, trend spotting, gauging style etc….

If you lose the love of reading, which, for many writers, is the reason they started on this journey in the first place, how can you inspire that in others? How can you continue to write stories others want to read? If you can no longer lose yourself in a tale, miss characters when they’re gone, worry, cry, gasp, laugh because of a storyteller’s masterful hand, how can you hope to inspire that feeling in others?

So toss away the guilt. Be a fan. Stand tall as a proud reader. Read like your life depends on it.

Because your writing life certainly does.