Writing #16: Hone Your Writing Skill by Reading
A long time ago, I worked with a small press. It was such a dreadful experience I ended up pushing it all out of my mind. It was a very small press and I got to read the submissions. There were some spectacular disasters that came in and I want to be reasonably fair and not mention and titles or names of the submissions and submitters.
The one question that kept popping into my mind was, "Has this person ever even read a book?"
I don't want to have nightmares tonight so I am not going to say much more. Well this one thing, the person who send in a cardboard box of cards and letters that arrived after her maiden aunt died, praising the woman's selfless devotion during her life -- what was she thinking? Somehow the words of sympathy would make a memoir?
Enough. Just enough.
Read Before You Write
Read while you are writing. It's one thing to write to market. It's another thing to know the market inside out. I mentioned recently that I had 147 books on writing on my ereader. Today I found a great list of books that new writers should read.
So should old writers.
Some of them are on my ereader so, being validated by this list, I am showing you the recommended books if you want to get a feel for how writers write. Or why they write.
The List I Found Today
- Annie Dillard, The Writing Life
- Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
- Virginia Woolf, A Writer's Diary
- Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
One not on the list that I am going to read this week, The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan.
My Ereader List Top 5
- Shirley Jackson, Let Me Tell You
- Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones
- Julia Cameron, The Right to Write
- Monica Leonelle, The 8-Minute Writing Habit: Create a Consistent Writing Habit That Works With Your Busy Lifestyle (Growth Hacking For Storytellers)
- Chris Fox, Lifelong Writing Habit: The Secret to Writing Every Day: Write Faster, Write Smarter
An Exercise for You
- Find your author and take one book and re-read it.
- Read 2 more books by the same author.
- Take a third book by this author an analyze it. Reverse engineer it.
- Rewrite the book in your words with your characters and your storyline.
This does not mean plagiarize the book. It means find the structure of the book and rebuild a new story on that structure.
What I Did and Will Do
I binge read (using audiobooks because it is faster) 6 authors over the winter. I got to sense the pattern and now I plan to deconstruct one of the books. It will either by Sue Grafton book or a Jonathan Kellerman book from his Alex Delaware series.
If you have a preference, please mention it in a comment. I love them all so would like help in choosing.
I love Stephen King's book On Writing. I should reread it. I agree that writers HAVE to be readers. It makes no sense to try to write if you don't read in the first place. I fear I am too lazy to do the reverse engineering of a book. I am sure if would help me though!
I do kind of like the genre I was trying to write in but I love love love good mysteries. I could be using this notion of wallowing in a genre to feed my passion for reading. My next binge reading is Maggie West.
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