Wednesday 22 October 2014

Writing Wednesdays - Reading

Just a short blog entry this week due to being rather unwell (just a bad cold, but enough to make stringing long sentences together difficult).  The focus for this is going to be something that I am sure most of you already know - the importance of reading.  (Topic suggested by the amazing LJ Hamlin http://www.amazon.co.uk/L.J-Hamlin/e/B00B1F6318)

You probably already know this, but if you want to get better at writing, one of the best things that you can do is reading a lot.  Read as much as you can, in different genres, things that people say are classics, things in the genres you want to read, and stories that people recommend.  Work out what you like reading, what people like reading, and go from there.  The more you read, the more you'll see how the writer's craft works. 

Read magazines, read novels, read writing blogs and read short stories, and if you can jot down the things that are most interesting in a journal or notebook.  A sentence or image that is interesting, a description you love, a concept that you like, things like that.  So you can look back and see what you find works, and you can get ideas.  Not copying what you read, but seeing what you enjoy and developing it.  Plus, being able to flick through everything you like will be quite fun, and can give you some much needed inspiration.

So reading matters.  Talk to people about what they enjoy reading, and take a look at it!  If you have no ideas of what to look at, people around you might have ideas.

Best of luck!  Go and read something now, and think about if there's anything there you can use.

No comments:

Post a Comment