Reading as a Writer

Years ago, I had a client who was writing a book about her husband’s death from a brain tumor. We had been working together for a year and over the course of our time together, I had recommended several books to her. Finally, one day she admitted to me that she never read. All she did was watch TV.

I was stunned. Literally, stunned. Why did she want to write a book if she never read them? And how did she expect to understand how to do it if she didn’t read? I didn’t tell her this, but I never would have taken her on as a client if I’d known she didn’t read. To be honest, it’s never occurred to me to ask clients if they read. I’ve always assumed they did. (And this experience has never happened to me again.)

Reading is how most of us decide we want to write. I can’t imagine coming to writing in any other way. (Or one can hope that perhaps if you’re a non-reader, writing can lead you to become one.)

But here’s the funny thing: once you start writing, reading is very different.  A newsletter reader wrote that very thing to me recently and I laughed. Because it’s so, so true. Once you start writing seriously, your reading changes.

Suddenly, you’re looking at how authors do everything. In my MFA program, reading was one cornerstone of our education for this very reason.  (The other was the writing workshop.) With every packet we turned in, one was an essay about a book we’d read. We were to take one aspect of that book that related to writing, such as description, or characterization, or dialogue, and drill down into it to see how the author worked it. I found this such a helpful process that I’ve often mimicked it in my journal in years hence. (See below.)

Also, remember—when you’re a writer, reading is part of your job description. So when you’re lolling about on the couch with a book, you can actually tell your family that you are working. Because it’s true.

Some tips:

--Read a book once for the pleasure of it, turning your brain off to all the things you notice as a writer. Then read it a second time for the craft.

--Read pleasure books in a different genre. I often read mysteries, for instance. Once in awhile I take a stab at writing them, but I don’t think they are really my thing. So for the most part, I can read them for pleasure without constantly stopping.

--Try different formats for reading. I tend to read faster and don’t absorb as much from a writing standpoint when I read on a Kindle.  And sometimes that is all my brain wants to do.

--Keep a reading journal in which you write down what you learned from the book you read. (I started out strong on this habit in 2021, keeping a dedicated journal for it) but gradually wandered away. I think I’ll try to go back to it, I found it really helpful.)