Are you a reader or writer?

[Everly]

As a fantasy writer myself, I am curious how many people on this group are just avid Fantasy readers and how many of us are writers as well?

[Elizabeth]

I am both, in equal measures. I can't even remember which I started first. I think I read my first book when I was five and wrote my first 'book' when I was six so there's not much in it!

[Emelie]

I am both as well. I write as an hobby, and my love of reading brought me to it. I started with it all at a very young age, and have never stopped since!

[Rachel]

Both, avidly - for as long as I've been able to read and write, respectively! :)

[Robert]

Both! I was a reader first, then became a writer. You have to be a reader of a genre to write in it. It is fun, when you start to sell, and you feel like you've joined this club. You were on the outside, and now you've gotten in.

[Shanshad]

I've been writing fantasy stories (never published) since I was a kid in school. My teachers never could get me to do a creative writing assignment that wasn't some kind of fantasy or SF. I still write, and my writing on a discussion board was the way my husband and I met when we both had characters on an open discussion board created world and decided to write an adventure with them, taking turns on the story as we went.

We started writing it before we ever met up in person. It's now nearly ten years later, the story wound up taking about 3 years and was several hundred pages. We've two kids, four cats, and a book collection that takes up more space than anything else. ^_^ I'd like to get my writing back on track and try and pub it, but until the kids are bigger, I don't have much more time to type than the occasional post.

[Katie]

I'm another who is both writer and reader, though my taste in fantasy is probably not the same as the majority of fantasy fans. I've never managed to make it through Lord of the Rings for example, but have read The Wizard of Earthsea at least three times.

[Sandra]

I'm a reader and also head mod here. As such, I just want to remind writers that while we are delighted to have writers and authors participate here, please confine your posts to your reading experiences, as this is not the proper forum for promoting your work. We have an Authors' folder for that. Also there are many other ways on Goodreads to promote your work.

Enjoy the discussion, as I cannot imagine a writer of fantasy who does not also enjoy reading it.

[Jim]

Interesting, but I can't imagine any writer not reading a lot, not only in their genre, but others as well. My favorite authors seem to bring a lot of disparate elements into their best works. My favorite writer really wanted to be a poet. I don't like poetry much, but I love his prose.

Hopefully others, especially authors, will continue to chime in, even with the preemptive wet blanket thrown on the topic.

[Joseph]

I'm a reader, not a writer, but I'm fascinated by the craft of writing -- I follow different authors' blogs and get how-to books and newsletters not because I expect I'll ever be writing anything myself, but because it's interesting to see different approaches to character & plotting & dialogue &c. -- getting a peek behind the curtains, as it were.

[Sandra]

Jim wrote: "Interesting, but I can't imagine any writer not reading a lot, not only in their genre, but others as well. My favorite authors seem to bring a lot of disparate elements into their best works. My..."

Who's your favorite author?

Not intended as a wet blanket. Just a reminder. There are many new authors who are new members of this group.

[[deleted user]]

Elle wrote: "As a fantasy writer myself, I am curious how many people on this group are just avid Fantasy readers and how many of us are writers as well?"

I read and write fantasy and scifi, but I also like to read scifi, suspense and romance.

[R.L.]

I read and write fantasy, and sometimes one will affect the other.

[Jim]

Roger Zelazny is my favorite author. I think his poetry training really helped his descriptions. He doesn't run on, yet manages to nail things down in a very few words. He also does some great free verse & some writing that's just different. Not only does he mix genres, but he mixes styles. Creatures of Light and Darkness is definitely his most experimental novel & it works, although I'm not really sure why. I've read it maybe a dozen times in the past 40 years & still come away scratching my head, but enjoy it each time.
;-)

[Amos]

Behind every reader is a writer just waiting to get out. lol. Writing does eat into reading time, however.

[Trisha]

I wanted to be a writer, but I had a problem with new stories coming along before I could get any thing finished. Maybe I should hire a finisher... (HeeHee)
I read alot though. see I read all these post too... now I am writing this response... look Ma! I can write!

[Amos]

Ah yes. I always have some new idea and plenty of unfinished tales... The rewrites and editing are a killer. Worth it in the long run when you get someone who really loves one of the stories...

[Rebekah]

Amos wrote: "Ah yes. I always have some new idea and plenty of unfinished tales... The rewrites and editing are a killer. Worth it in the long run when you get someone who really loves one of the stories..."

I love your stories Daddy. Although I'm a little behind in reading some as uni takes up too much of my time.

[Amos]

lol. Pass this year and you can read the whole Haven series next year.

[Barbara]

Katie wrote: "I'm another who is both writer and reader, though my taste in fantasy is probably not the same as the majority of fantasy fans. I've never managed to make it through Lord of the Rings for example, ..."

Same... except I DIDN'T Make it through Earthsea either. But I've read almost all of David Eddings and the Jennifer Robertson Cheysuli Chronicles.
I read almost everything, not only sci-fi and fantasy - and I write mostly fantasy, but I'm not really influenced by my reads. I mean, I think some stories are well told by the author and won't even dream of writing like him/her - and they're probably not the stories I'd like to write anyway, but I enjoy reading them, know what I mean?

[Jim]

Amos wrote: "Ah yes. I always have some new idea and plenty of unfinished tales... The rewrites and editing are a killer. Worth it in the long run when you get someone who really loves one of the stories..."

I read a Cracked.com article the other day "How to Become an Author, in 5 Incredibly Difficult Steps"
http://www.cracked.com/blog/how-to-be...

#2 was about EDITING or "...Learning to edit is, quite simply, learning to hate yourself word by word...." It's an interesting article.

Warning, Cracked.com might not be safe for work.

[Carolyn]

Have to say, I'm a reader, first and only.

I write well, when I need to, but have never really had any desire to write.

It's a good thing, too, because between 2 kids, house, husband, job, needlework and reading, my time is pretty much all spoken for, for the next couple of decades or so. = )

[Reanna]

I'm a reader and a writer. I'm dyslexic so in order to overcome that I started reading and writing in bulk as a child. It's a habit I've kept to this day.

For the last few years the only writing I have had a chance to do it academic in nature and is mostly just grinding out page after page just to get a good grade. I still manage to read for fun, it's difficult but there is no way I could go without reading a good book .

[Andrea]

Both. I read fantasy, sf and mysteries, and occasionally wander into other genres.

[[deleted user]]

Both.

Read my PROFILE for more info & Enjoy the Journey, MG

[Jim]

You mean you're 13, because if you're 12, you're not allowed on GR.

[Amos]

Happy birthday Daulton. lol.

[Jim]

Reader and writer. Spent most of my formative years with my nose in one book or another.

Lately, not nearly so much time for the reading. When I surprise myself by having time for either reading or writing...writing always wins. Maybe once writing lets me get rid of that silly day job, I'll be able to balance the two again. :)

[Danielle The Book Huntress]

I am a reader and an unpublished writer. I am not very good at writing fantasy, but I'm working on it.

[Amos]

Well, Danielle, once you get it together you can publish on smashwords (or kindle or nook)... :)

[Danielle The Book Huntress]

Amos, I'm trying to decide if I want to go the ebook route or not. There are both advantages and disadvantages.

[Michael]

I'm both...and I recommend the current ebook popularity as it allowed me to write full time AND have my wife quit her day job. Also...if it wasn't for the ebooks I wouldn't have had my series picked up by Orbit - they fast tracked the releases so Theft of Swords will be hiting the market in November.

[Eli]

I like to think of myself as a writer, but truth be said I actually have never written a book or something a like. I do like to think up stories, I have them spinning on my head all the time, very carefully detailed, but I can't seem to put them properly in paper, or if I can, it's never in the form of words.

I really admire people who write their stories, published or not, the pure act of putting them down makes them feel more real and close, don't you think?

[Simon]

Definitely very much a writer... which also means I'm an obsessive reader of course. A reader doesn't need to be a writer; a writer HAS to be a reader.

[Noor]

Both. I love writing,even though it feels like torture sometimes, but spend a lot of time reading (mostly fiction, but occasionally non-fiction for research). I also play videogames and watch movies for research. David Farland said that was okay... so there!

[S.A.]

I like stories. Reading them. Singing them. Writing them. But I only write them because sometimes when I turn over the page...there's nothing on it! And I want to know what happens next!

[Phoebe]

Me and my friend, Kacey, (Who has an acount on Goodreads, but isn't a part of this group) LOVE to read and write stories! XD I enjoy editing and re-writing parts of stories (written by KC and me, of course), as does alot of people!

[Bill]

I'm a reader, though I do a lot of technical writing, but I don't think that's what you mean. I have a strong image-memory as a pre-schooler of being in a library and looking up at all those books, wondering what secrets they contained and wanting to be able to read so badly. And when I started, it was like a fishie discovering the ocean.

And, like almost all readers, I suspect, I long to write a novel, but never have had the time—perhaps if I can ever retire.

When does a person become a "Writer", can honestly use the appellation? For most professions it is easy to know, as there are rites of passage. What's a writer's rite of passage?

[Elise]

Primarily a reader, though I have written some short stories. If the inspiration strikes me, I'll write, and if I'm extremely lucky I'll even finish it, but that doesn't happen very often. I have several incomplete stories that I don't expect I'll ever finish lol. I get too perfectionistic I guess. So, I stick to reading.

[Phoebe]

lol, that's the same with KC She just gets half-way through one, then makes another one! XD

[Barbm1020]

I read and write, but not always simultaneously. Reading feeds my writing, but of course real life factors into my choice of books & periodicals, and what I write. I picked up a "Vish Puri" story by Tarquin Hall, and became intensely curious about India, especially since I've met people from Mumbai and from Punjab, so that led to further reading and also exploring the music of the various cultures there. And the delicious food! ("Outsourced" notwithstanding.) And this is the first thing I've written about it because I still don't know enough to engage in an intelligent discussion.

[[deleted user]]

A Reader and loving it.

[Sean]

I, like most, learnt to read and write at the same time. However, I've been telling stories for much longer :-)I love reading and being lost in another world. But creating one of your own, developing the plot and moving characters through the story, is an imaginative indulgence that can not be surpassed. I've read hundreds, but through DM'ing RPG's and now writing novels I've realised I enjoy writing far more than reading. But writers like Joe Abercrombie and Peter V Brett, get my pulse racing. So reading and writing will always and have to go hand in hand.

[Terry]

Both avidly. Love ebooks, although nothing beats a hard cover of my favorite author. However ebooks allowed me to clear out my library and find space for my 2 yr old daughter.

[Sean]

Why are you keeping your 2 year old daughter on a bookshelf? Or did you have so many books that you now have the room cleared? Yeah for e.books :-)

[Terry]

Sean wrote: "Why are you keeping your 2 year old daughter on a bookshelf? Or did you have so many books that you now have the room cleared? Yeah for e.books :-)"

Had several thousand books in the room I used as a library.

[Greg]

A writer, and when I'm writing I don't read much because I'm trying to keep my head filled with the world I'm building. In between writing books, I'm a slow reader. I like to savour the words and ideas and consider how things have been put together. But if the writing is very good, I just get sucked in and can't analyse the craft of it any more...

[Kerry]

These days I'm a reader only.

I used to write and I loved it, but I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and over the years as my health has slipped, my creativity and focus have also slipped to the point I can't write anymore. I so wish I could still write, but there's just nothing there to work with now.

Thank goodness I can still read (if not as easily as I used to). If that went away too I think I'd go totally bonkers (instead of just partly like now :).

[Phoebe]

Woah.... Shocking! You mean ya can't write stories anymore?!? O.O

[Kerry]

Phoebe wrote: "Woah.... Shocking! You mean ya can't write stories anymore?!? O.O"

Nope, it's like there's nothing there in my head to grab and put on paper any more. It's like another huge part of my life gone, so in all honesty, I don't think about it too much or it makes me sad.