In Others’ Words: Writing … and Reading

 

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“The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story.”
~ Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-), American author

 

I call myself a writer — an author even. But long before I morphed from a wish-I-may-wish-I-might wannabe writer to “the real deal,” I was a reader.

I had my favorite authors — and I still do. If I fell in love with a writer’s way with words, if a hero and heroine became almost flesh-and-blood real to me, I read every single book that author wrote. (I still do.)

Back then — when I was only a reader — I thought the author made the story come to life. Not me.

But now … now I understand the value of readers. How they, by reading my stories, breathe life into those “little black marks on wood pulp” and transform them into chapter one … and two … and three … all the way to happily ever after. Whenever a reader opens one of my books, my heroine embarks on her journey all over again. My hero has the chance to succeed — or fail — all over again.

In Your Words: Writer or reader — who brings a story to life?