More than you think you need, love.
Some creatives are inspired by nature. They look at a stunning sunset, the purples and blues and reds layering the sky, or fluffy golden ducklings following their mama. Then they break out their paintbrushes and knock out something wonderful of their own, or get out their computers and unleash a torrent of words, carpal tunnel syndrome be damned.
I do not get inspired by sceneries. I like them, mind you. I think cityscapes are awesome. Sometimes on my walks home I get giddy with delight, staring at the dreamlike radiance of the full yellow moon establishing its presence in the dark sky. But beyond the immediate beauty, nature doesn’t trigger me to make anything of my own. What gets my creative juices flowing is other people’s creative work.
Reading a good book. Watching a complex movie, or the occasional speculative fiction series. Good books capture all my senses, no kidding. My eyes actively see, not the words I’m reading, but the moving images each page weaves. My ears ring with the characters’ bellows, the hyperactive background critters, the whistling in the trees. My nose wrinkles at the unwelcome whiff of the creepy uncle’s too-strong perfume. My skin heats up when Important Character A sidles up close to Important Character B, his knuckles faintly caressing her cheek. My tongue burns from the liquor a grieving Dad tries to find solace in. Completely hooked, I’m marveling at one writer’s ability to include just enough lightness to carry an otherwise uncomfortable subject. How someone can build both humour and character depth where others fail at both. If a book is really good it makes me really want to write.
But I stopped reading.
I was winded, at the risk of sounding dramatic. I’d do formal work, then academic work, then experience such extreme brain fatigue that I did not want to be near a book. Or near a good book. I still wanted to read, but only the sort of books I could keep at arm’s length, with no risk of attachment. Deliberately, I scraped the bottom of the barrel for ‘Literature’s Dregs.’ Books with disjoined cover art. Bland plot. Poorly developed characters. Little to no proofreading. Thinly-veiled villains.
And I hated every minute of the reading experience. (It was my fault, but stop shouting.) So I stopped reading, and stopped writing.
Then this April I got incensed over the accumulating brain rot, and I decided to start reading again. This time I chose books I knew were good. And dang, what a treat it was to start reading good stuff again. Get lost in worlds. Discover new writers. Read a line and think what an awesome metaphor that was. And more importantly, want to write my own stuff again.
The effect wasn’t instant, but it happened. I developed a bunch of writing prompts. The first prompt I picked, I knocked out over eighteen thousand words in eight days.
(Was the writing any good? No.
But let’s focus on what’s important.)
Writers read. For them, reading transcends being a hobby, or an activity for escapism. It becomes the quickest way to absorb other writing styles and hone your own. Stretch your imagination. Push the boundaries of what can be written and what can’t be. Teach you what should be done and what to avoid. Show you what works and what doesn’t. There’s so much wealth in other people’s books it cannot be over-emphasized.
Like writing, reading requires discipline. So, Note to self:
Make time to read.
It’s easy to get lost in the flurry–or drudgery–of everyday life. That’s why you’ve got to be deliberate about picking out a reading time. It doesn’t have to be a fixed hour every day (but it can be). My commute to and from work can go anywhere from three to four hours, depending on the driver’s route and what temperament the day’s weather has chosen. That’s time I can spend stewing at the lack of digital teleportation devices, or time I can spend reading.
Be intentional about what you read.
Want to write fantasy? Romantic suspense? Creative non-fiction? Find books in the genre. Find two or three authors you love and binge them. Discover new ones. Pick books that have striking covers (they say don’t judge a book by its cover, and that’s probably applicable in every circumstance except with books themselves). Read book reviews.
Do you genre-hop? Even cooler! Read all the genres you love. Read more. You blog? Read articles. Read other blogs.
Whatever it is, be sure you’re reading the good stuff, stuff that thoroughly engages you. I think it’s necessary to keep reading pieces whose quality is just out of reach. It’s like having a conversation with someone smarter than you. You want to be like them. You’ll want to write like these authors. You may not get near that calibre immediately (or ever), but continually bingeing their stuff will show the parts in your work that need a revamp. You’ll even be able to find areas worth improving in others’ published work. So. Much. Power!
Recognize what stood out to you.
A description of a touch. A sudden chapter break to build suspense. Cutting banter. The use of an illustration to convey what three hundred words wouldn’t do justice to. Sometimes writers leave beautiful gems in their pieces, and readers prance around in joy (more often we just sit and stare at the wall in awe at such beauty for a considerable amount of time) before returning to their reading. Make note of these gems. Highlight it in a different colour in the reading app. Take a screenshot. Underline it in the book (if it’s yours, and you don’t mind defacing your book. I do mind defacing my books, so make of this advice what you will). Write it on a post-it. Write it in a notebook. Or store it up in your big ol’ noggin. Whatever you do, do not forget it.
Whittle down these gems to the elements that make them pop. Figure out how you can incorporate the elements in your own work. Experiment. See what best fits.
Set a target.
Can you read two books a month? Can you read three? Go for it.
You can keep shifting the goal post. If your plan was to read an article from your favourite journal each week, and you’re getting through that way too easily, change the plan. Read two articles.
But don’t… don’t overdo it. If three books a week is your happy place, and you’re seeing the benefits in your own writing process, stick with it. If three books a month is doing the work for you, that’s your sweet spot. Reading is a learning process, but you should also enjoy it. Like we say in Zoom meetings when we’ve not really been paying attention, ‘It’s all about finding the right balance.’
If you don’t know what to read, text me. I have book recs in multiple genres.
I should go read.
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