Reading for Good Writing
Reading for Good Writing
I believe that a good writer needs to read ten pages for every one he writes. It sounds like a lot of reading, but this is no different from any other profession where students study the masters before they try to earn a living at the trade. Publishers won’t forgive poor writing and neither will readers, so it is worth your time to perfect your skills, and it should be a treated as a chance to learn rather than a chore.
The first books to start with are novels on writing. These how-to-write books cover all potential genres and offer some basic suggestions for effective writing. Most libraries carry at least a few of these books at no cost to the reader. I went through half a dozen of them when I first started out and they were worth the time. Each one offered a few good ideas for improving my work.
I should point out that I only own one how-to-write books. Many of them cover the same ideas, and often it’s material you should have learned in English class back in high school. This helps beginners, but often there is too much repeated information. But after you wade through this there can be some nuggets of real genius, like the importance of including details on what your characters smell in a scene. Get copies of these books from your library and mine them for all they’re worth, then move on to the next one.
The next and most obvious place to do some reading is in your own genre. Read successful books in your field of interest to get an idea of what has been done before and worked. This also shows what ideas have been overdone (vampire romance, anyone?) and should be avoided. The point is not to slavishly copy the styles and plots of other authors, but learn from them and see what they did to succeed. This can be misleading if the book is from many years ago when tastes were different, but even then there are lessons you can learn.
You can also take lessons from what books bombed. Find a few stinkers through Amazon.com’s reviews and check the out at your library to spare yourself some cash. There are many books that got into print and shouldn’t have, with bad grammar, stereotyped characters, overused plot ideas or a plot that changes throughout the book, and so on. Many times these weaknesses are camouflaged with stunning cover art to lure reader into a false sense that they’re getting their money’s worth. It can be helpful to read some bad books to see why they failed, and spend a few days studying how you would fix them (if possible).
Science books are another good place for useful ideas regardless of genre. You might think they don’t apply to your work, but having a layman’s understanding of basic sciences can help enormously. Take time to research the location of your book in regards to the kinds of animals, plants, weather and maybe even geology you can expect. Learn its history and what the people talk like. You might think readers wouldn’t notice if something is out of place, but they will. A good example is the original Dracula movie, where the Count has an armadillo roaming his castle (no joke!). Basic research prevents most of these mistakes.
Lastly I recommend reading history books and biographies. The real world is filled with drama, horror, romance and comedy like you wouldn’t believe. These books offer a wealth of plot ideas that can be introduced into your books. Study real people and see how complex they are, using that as an example of the kind of rich, detailed characters your books needs. Like reading the masters, the idea isn’t to wholesale steal someone’s life and present it in your book. Instead sample bits from many people’s lives, or borrow a few ideas or interesting facts for your book.
Older histories and biographies are also a rich source of ideas for character names. Many authors choose common names for their characters, sometimes using the same ones too often. Male leads are often given ‘strong’ names like Stone, Steel, Hawk and the like, to the point that it becomes a cliché. Older books have names that were common long ago but are rarely used today. Authors can draw on these to make their characters more distinctive with names you won’t find in a phonebook.
I believe that a good writer needs to read ten pages for every one he writes. It sounds like a lot of reading, but this is no different from any other profession where students study the masters before they try to earn a living at the trade. Publishers won’t forgive poor writing and neither will readers, so it is worth your time to perfect your skills, and it should be a treated as a chance to learn rather than a chore.
The first books to start with are novels on writing. These how-to-write books cover all potential genres and offer some basic suggestions for effective writing. Most libraries carry at least a few of these books at no cost to the reader. I went through half a dozen of them when I first started out and they were worth the time. Each one offered a few good ideas for improving my work.
I should point out that I only own one how-to-write books. Many of them cover the same ideas, and often it’s material you should have learned in English class back in high school. This helps beginners, but often there is too much repeated information. But after you wade through this there can be some nuggets of real genius, like the importance of including details on what your characters smell in a scene. Get copies of these books from your library and mine them for all they’re worth, then move on to the next one.
The next and most obvious place to do some reading is in your own genre. Read successful books in your field of interest to get an idea of what has been done before and worked. This also shows what ideas have been overdone (vampire romance, anyone?) and should be avoided. The point is not to slavishly copy the styles and plots of other authors, but learn from them and see what they did to succeed. This can be misleading if the book is from many years ago when tastes were different, but even then there are lessons you can learn.
You can also take lessons from what books bombed. Find a few stinkers through Amazon.com’s reviews and check the out at your library to spare yourself some cash. There are many books that got into print and shouldn’t have, with bad grammar, stereotyped characters, overused plot ideas or a plot that changes throughout the book, and so on. Many times these weaknesses are camouflaged with stunning cover art to lure reader into a false sense that they’re getting their money’s worth. It can be helpful to read some bad books to see why they failed, and spend a few days studying how you would fix them (if possible).
Science books are another good place for useful ideas regardless of genre. You might think they don’t apply to your work, but having a layman’s understanding of basic sciences can help enormously. Take time to research the location of your book in regards to the kinds of animals, plants, weather and maybe even geology you can expect. Learn its history and what the people talk like. You might think readers wouldn’t notice if something is out of place, but they will. A good example is the original Dracula movie, where the Count has an armadillo roaming his castle (no joke!). Basic research prevents most of these mistakes.
Lastly I recommend reading history books and biographies. The real world is filled with drama, horror, romance and comedy like you wouldn’t believe. These books offer a wealth of plot ideas that can be introduced into your books. Study real people and see how complex they are, using that as an example of the kind of rich, detailed characters your books needs. Like reading the masters, the idea isn’t to wholesale steal someone’s life and present it in your book. Instead sample bits from many people’s lives, or borrow a few ideas or interesting facts for your book.
Older histories and biographies are also a rich source of ideas for character names. Many authors choose common names for their characters, sometimes using the same ones too often. Male leads are often given ‘strong’ names like Stone, Steel, Hawk and the like, to the point that it becomes a cliché. Older books have names that were common long ago but are rarely used today. Authors can draw on these to make their characters more distinctive with names you won’t find in a phonebook.
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