WOW! Women On Writing Blog: reading to help writing

Wednesday, February 07, 2018

Earlier this week, I was fiddling around on Twitter when I came across this graphic. February is Love of Reading Month. How great is that if you are a writer? Most of us love to read.

Many writers stick to reading the types of books they write and that is important. Reading new books in your area helps you see what is being published. You’ll note changes in the market and what the competition is publishing.

But to develop your skills as a writer, reading different types of books can help you hone different writing skills.

Want to brush up on dialog? Read graphic novels. Sure there’s some narrative thrown in there but graphic novel dialog is short and to the point. Characters don’t have the opportunity to ramble. What they say has to drive the story forward. I just finished Hereville by Barry Deutsch. The setting is an Orthodox community and the hero is a tween girl.

What about characterization? I often spend too much time on how my character looks instead of how she looks at the world. That's the shallowest and easiest way to characterize. One of the best writers I know at slipping these details in oh so subtly is fantasy author Sharon Shinn. I know how her characters in spite of the fact that she doesn't expend numerous words in telling me.

Do you need to study world building? Then read science fiction, fantasy and historical fiction. Note: If you’re going to opt for historical fiction, pick a book set in a time and place that isn’t well known. Writers who tackle these books learn how to introduce readers to complex worlds that they previously didn’t know anything about. Margaret Rogerson did an excellent job of this in An Enchantment of Ravens.

Do you have troubles with dramatic action scenes? It can be tricky to build tension, relate all the proper action, and write a scene that is long enough to truly shine. Susan Brockmann is excellent at this whether the scene involves using explosives to get into a safe room or a hand-to-hand fight with a serial killer.

Do you find that readers can almost always tell what is going to happen next in your story? Then pick up a mystery. Mystery writers are experts at planting clues in subtle ways while also scattering about red herring. I’ve been brushing up on cozies and have a whole host waiting for me at the library including Murder is Binding by Lorna Barrett and Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley.

Then there’s also the skill of layering everything - set up, hook, plot, pacing, setting, 3 attempts, character building and more. Picture books are a great tool to learn how it all fits together because most of these books do it in 32 pages. Two great examples are After the Fall by Dan Santat and the nonfiction Fallingwater by Marc Harshman and Anna Egan Smucker.

One of the great things about being a writer is that we can brush up on our skills by doing something we love to do. Pick up a book and study your craft while also celebrating your Love of Reading.

--SueBE

To find out more about Sue Bradford Edwards' writing, visit her blog, One Writer's Journey. Sue is also the instructor for Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins March 12th, 2018.

4 comments love of reading, Love of Reading Month, reading to help writing

The Writing Waiting Game

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

We’re always in such a hurry, aren’t we?

We drive fast and furious, we eat fast food, we want to make the fast bucks! And writing’s no different. We want to be published yesterday. The problem is, when it comes to writing, getting it done fast is not necessarily a good thing.

Good writing takes time and patience and a little trust.

Letting the Writing Stew

You’ve probably heard that it’s a good idea to let a manuscript rest after completing it. Fresh eyes will allow you to see errors that you skimmed over in the heat of finishing a project. But how to know how long to let a manuscript stew?

For me, it’s the size and depth of the project. If I’m writing a short post for the Muffin, for example, I’ll finish the first draft and come back to it the next day to post it. I’ll invariably find that I’ve left a word out here or there because yep, I was rushing to get it done.

For fiction, that’s a different story. I’m looking for the bigger picture problems: plot and pacing, setting snafus, or character issues. I need to give my brain time to sort of forget the story so that when I read it again, those problems will jump off the page. I also need to allow enough time for me to fall out of love with the story. I mean, nobody likes to pick on her own baby, right? Time gives me distance to do the ruthless revisions necessary.

For a novel-length manuscript, I might give myself a month between that first draft and the first major revision. That’s where the patience comes in.

Patience Really Is a (Writing) Virtue

Gosh, I’m excited when I’m working on a story! I’m zipping along, synapses firing, rushing to get the words on the page. Unfortunately, the story in my head can’t always keep up. And so I end up leaving out bits and pieces that are kind of important.

But if I’m impatient, and start back on the revision too quick, my brain fills in those bits and pieces. It really is amazing, the human brain. It can make all those arcs, all those chapters, all those words fit the way they need to fit to make perfect sense. At least, they’ll make sense to me.

And so I’ve learned to wait and work on other, shorter writing in between. I read, too. I read a lot, trusting the process.

Just a Little Bit of Trust

I’m a BIG believer in reading what you write.

If you want to be in a Chicken Soup for the Soul book, read a couple those books. And if you want your novel to be published by one of the biggies in the industry, read a lot of their recently published books. Because here’s what happens: your brain takes in all that good writing, and it’s learning, learning, learning. And when you sit down to start the rewrites, you’ll apply what you’ve learned. You just need to trust the process.

So give yourself time to write something good—and save the fast track for runners!

~Cathy C. Hall