I read a lot these days and I think that’s a good thing… for the most part. Inevitably, you’ll find yourself reading something quite terrible and will face the necessary question of whether to continue. That question is generally predicated on whether you’re reading it because you want to or because you feel obligated or… you agreed to.
This is all to the best because, if you’re a writer yourself, you will at some point, ask someone to read what you’ve written. And while they may love it; they might also find it terrible.
That’s not the end of the world… and you will realize this after you come out of your darkened room some days later…
But back to reading.
I read both for elucidation and for a greater sense of what people are thinking. Also, cheap laughs. I think that’s important. And because there is so much that has been written over the years, it can give you an insight into the times when the book was written and to how writing changes over generations. Classic literature simply means it’s old and has some relevance to the human condition of that time, or is meant to torture young people who don’t have the experience to truly understand what the writer is trying to say.
James Joyce makes a lot more sense at 50 than 18. Just saying.
Reading make a writer better at the craft. it just does. You read, it percolates down into the strata of the brain that makes you stare at the page, or screen, until something wonderful come out. It doesn’t have to be your style or genre-I’m a big believer in reading outside the genre you write in-to make you a better writer.
Yes, this is not new news, but it bears repeating because it’s true.
I read that somewhere.
©2019 David William Pearce
Monk Buttman Mysteries 