Why is it important to read if you love writing? That is both a loaded and simple question to answer.
If you love writing then at some point you were introduced to reading. Simply put you cannot have one without the other. If it were not for storybooks, novels, novellas, and the many other types of literature available in the modern world there would be a lack of new material and familiar material. There would also be a certain lack of fiber in stories if we only wrote and never read anything.
Reading other works from other authors provides the writer with new viewpoints and creativity. Any beginning writer knows that the cup is always empty when you start attaining new knowledge. The same goes with reading. Without finding a source to sup on there is nothing to gain, the water in the imaginary cup stays stagnant and bland. But if you borrow some wine from another author's pitcher and fill your own cup with new styles and language and tastes, it's like a whole new world was just unleashed upon the writer's taste buds.
Now this doesn't mean to go out to the library and bookstore and buy every mainstream critically acclaimed author out there, though it doesn't hurt either. Try going to a Half Priced Books or Barnes & Noble and finding something that interest you. Perhaps something in the genre you like or maybe stretch your legs into a different genre for once. It does wonders for the creative part of the brain or the gray matter span as some might think of it.
What are some of my favorite works from other authors? Check out the below.
Laurence Yep, Dragon's Gate
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
Sherman Alexie, Flight
Dashiell Hammett, The Thin Man
No comments:
Post a Comment