Comments on: Writing My Novel: 7 Ways Reading Makes Better Writing

By: We Fly Spitfires

We Fly Spitfires — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 23:33:33 +0000

An oldie post but still a goodie Great advice!
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By: B.J. Keeton

B.J. Keeton — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:22:01 +0000

I think that’s one of my favorite things. I love being able to know that I’m recognizing phrases or syntax rather than words, understanding the signified rather than the individual signifiers. It kind of makes me geek out when I realize I’m doing it.

Unfortunately, that style of reading has to be turned off when in editing mode, because it’s so easy to miss small mistakes because you’re taking in large chunks at a time for what they /should/ say instead of what they do.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:17:28 +0000

Makes sense to me; that’s how I read, too. I’ve even found that I’ll read in whole phrases at times. That’s one benefit of reading extensively; your speed keeps increasing with increasing familiarity with words and how they work together.
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By: Tesh

Tesh — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:15:25 +0000

Yes indeedy. You need to at least understand the medium and genre you’re writing in.
Tesh´s last post ..Foozles and Futility

By: nugget

nugget — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 11:37:12 +0000

Woops! Forgot to add one thing!

It’s also a matter of whether or not you’re creating for commercial purposes. (IMO anyway.)

For example, I do definitely read industry stuff on copywriting, as well as every bit of text that I can read, that happens to pass in front of my beady little eyeballs…

But for painting, since I’ve more or less given up hope of ever making a living from it, I don’t look at fantasy art *as a genre* anymore. Sure, I still look at artists I like, but to be honest, I can’t really remember the last time I went out and looked at fantasy art as a genre thing, rather than as a ‘Ooh look John Howe did a new calendar, I r must have eet!’
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By: nugget

nugget — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 11:33:22 +0000

Oh! I didn’t mean to say ‘don’t ever read anyone else’s copy’, that would be silly! And impossible. XD

And of course, you should read within the industry itself, and see if you agree/disagree with people’s views/tips/pointers yaddayaddablabla.

What I’m saying is you should not ONLY limit yourself to ‘within the industry’, because it’ll make you (or me anyway), a poorer craftsman.

Hope dat answers it! *peer self*

By: Larísa

Larísa — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 20:47:51 +0000

For all my insane love of books I treat them pretty badly tbh. They get stains, dog ears and – yes – I read in the tub. My husband hates me for ruining the books. But I don’t see it that way. When I see a worn book I think: this is a book that someone actually read and loved – loved so much that he took it with him everywhere and couldn’t let go of it. A worn book has become an integrated part of another human being and thus earned eternal life. A book that looks new and unread – it looks deserted and lonely.

As I said: we don’t agree on this at home… I probably sound a bit nuts. But that”s my way of loving books. I devour them!
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By: B.J. Keeton

B.J. Keeton — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 06:21:15 +0000

I’m the same way. If there are words, they’re read. I don’t do it consciously. I’ve tried to shut it off and not read for a while just to see if I could, and my experiment failed. Part of it was because of how I was taught to read: whole-word rather than phonetics. I don’t see words in parts, I see the whole, and thus when I recognize the symbol of a word, I automatically get the signified in my head, and can’t help but have read. If that makes sense.

By: B.J. Keeton

B.J. Keeton — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 06:19:22 +0000

I don’t see how you people read in the tub. My book would get all wet and ruin it!

By: B.J. Keeton

B.J. Keeton — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 06:18:32 +0000

I think there’s a lot of positives in intertextuality and interdisciplinary reading. I just think that if you’re a writer who only reads SF while only writing crime fiction, you’re doing yourself a disservice.

My point wasn’t that a person /just/ read blogs, but that they /at least/ read blogs. The more branched out you can be, the better, but if writers will not even get themselves the base understanding of what they are trying to write, I think they’re going to fail. And hard.