I agree with you 100%, Ramona -- can't be a writer unless you're a reader. The only caveat, I think, is the "lifetime reader" part -- if people didn't read as kids but they want to write as adults, fine. Read a lot. It's not impossible. It helps if you start when you're a child, but you're not doomed if you didn't.
The idea that being a reader only makes you a better reader and has nothing to do with your skills as a writer is just poppycock 😂 Probably a statement made by someone who doesn't want to read. Sorry not sorry -- that's not how it works.
Yes, you're right, of course. 'Lifetime reader' can be pretty intimidating and impossible after the fact. Reading as a study, even if you're not instantly aware of it, can work at every level. The love of reading is essential. Maybe that would have been a better way for me to have put it.
I think this is a caveat worth noting. I read a fair amount as a child, but I certainly wasn’t voracious--I was interested in other things (crafts, music, playing with friends) and didn’t always carve out time for reading. I like to think I’ve made up for it adulthood as I read a ton now, but in honestly, my strong desire to write came before my strong desire to read. What we read no doubt makes us better writers, but I think a huge amount of improvement as writers comes from trial and error and practice in our own work, influenced what we read, yes, but not solely determined by it.
It's interesting to think about the writing coming first, and then the reading. What do you suppose prompted the need to write then? It could have been your interest in other things creative, like music and crafts, but wasn't the finished product the appeal? I mean, when you heard the music, or saw the craft, did it inspire you to try doing it yourself? Or were you content to be the audience?
Did you dabble in writing as a creative effort using your own imagination first, rather than seeing the possibilities in the books you read?
If so, when did that imagination manifest itself in your writing, and how did you know how to do it?
Sorry for the cross-examination but I really am curious. The process is so damned fascinating.
I suppose I read enough as a child to be inspired by stories, and to want to create stories of my own, but not enough to have absorbed what makes good writing good. I think reading with an eye for the craft of writing came later for me.
Not sure that answers your questions (not sure I even have the answers), but this has certainly got me thinking!
I think in our cases reading as children may have created a kind of wonderment that lay dormant but then carried over when the creative buzz began. I don't mean to analyze those beginnings to death; just to stress that there is a joy in reading that all good writers possess. If new writers can understand that need to find the joy it might make it easier for them as their writing matures.
It could be by not learning to love reading first they're putting the cart before the horse, wasting a lot of time trying to get there without the essential tools.
I really resonated with the sequence of things mentioned by you, Kate. I found the power of writing way before I cultivated the habit of reading. I am still working on the habit, having grown up in a culture where reading for pleasure was looked down upon. Yet, if I approach reading from "I want to become a better writer" lens, I get overwhelmed by the beauty of the language and the craft of the writer, and my motivation runs dry pretty soon. I want to read to be a good reader, and trust that it will automatically, subconsciously, eventually help my writing, along with the 100 other gifts that reading brings.
Two more quick questions that got stirred by your post, Ramona: 1. Why do many voracious and lifetime readers avoid writing so much? Does reading a lot of high quality, highly polished work for years make a person dread their own imperfect first drafts? 2. While reading can't be substituted, can it be expanded to reading niche genres, bits of non-fiction, listening to podcasts, watching movies, listening (like really listening) to people around us? Can a broad openness to language, life, story, and emotion suffice to nourish a growing writer?
(Happy to join your thread for the first time! :D)
Oh. My. Goodness. Ok, English teacher here and YES, reading matters. I am having so many problems with students who have no idea how to put ideas together in writing because they don't read. They don't know how ideas fit into sentences that fit into paragraphs that fit into essays. They don't know how to embed quotes because they don't even know what that looks like. They don't know how to synthesize multiple texts because they don't read writers who do that naturally. My own kids are voracious readers AND excellent writers and I'm convinced the two go hand-in-hand.
What a great explanation, Sarah, as well as an exoneration, I think! When I made that FB comment I didn't mean to discourage any writer who felt their time had passed because they hadn't read enough, but to me it's so essential and you've explained why
As Sarah Miller said, it doesn't have to be a lifetime of conscientious reading, it only has to be an awareness that it's a necessary learning tool. Wow! You nailed it!
There's so much to savor in your piece, Sarah, but what i get most from it is that we need to recognize the JOY of reading and capitalize on it. If it's presented as pleasure and not a chore, who wouldn't jump on it?
This is how we have to do it, as you say:
'We need to stop seeing preschool teachers as glorified babysitters and instead train them to be well-paid early childhood literacy experts who understand how to expose our little learners to language. We need to allow our Kindergarten teachers to get back to play and exploration with easy access to picture books and early readers in the classroom for those who are ready. When middle school teachers allow their students to do book reports and projects over graphic novels, we should praise them for meeting their readers where they are. And when high school teachers argue that English class isn’t about learning the classics but about teaching students lifelong literacy skills that will follow them to either college or their future careers, regardless of a student’s future vocation, we should regularly show teenagers how that is true in our own lives.'
I enjoy reading to discover what I'd like to write like. Bonus if the story is great. Does that make sense? Not copying, but the gist of why I enjoy a book, or a style...the nuance. Thanks for the prompt, Ramona!
Yes, that makes perfect sense. Reading for discovery is the kind of painless learning every writer needs in order to grow. There's no real need to teach writing when reading can do it best. What we're really teaching is awareness.
Look at this. See how they did this? See why it works? See why this doesn't? It can be a pretty insightful yet delightful process.
In language acquisition theory, there’s this idea that input has to proceed output. All humans have the innate ability to learn language, but their exposure to language is what ultimately drives their language ability and usage- what native language they speak, their vocabulary, grammatical structures, accent, etc.
I would imagine that reading has the same impact on writing. Much like oral language learning (both for native languages and discussed more prominently when talking about second language acquisition), there is likely a “critical period” when we’re younger in which the more we read, the better we get at it, and the more sophisticated language structures we pick up that we then in turn use in writing. Like another commenter said, it doesn’t mean that we can’t learn to write as adults, but we’re probably going to have a whole lot of reading to do (and maybe even writing workshops to attend) to catch up to our peers who have a lifetime of reading under their belts.
True enough. Your comment got me to thinking about oral storytellers when the written word wasn't available. The Finns, for example, were forbidden by their conquerors, the Swedes to have a written language, so they got around it with Runesingers--storytellers who memorized The Kalevala, their national epic poem, and wandered the countryside singing and reciting it and other stories of Finnish identity. The need for stories has always been there. And I suppose that's where we come in, no matter how we got here.
Great question, as usual, Ramona! Talent. I think it starts there. I suppose one's writing acumen can be learned without an innate, inherent talent to begin with. And, I certainly don't disagree with the "read more, write better" argument! I'm convinced Martin Mull came up with his pithy, "Some people have a way with words; others, not have way" with an eye toward how one gets to each verbal destination!
At the risk of sounding shamelessly self-promoting, I've been thinking about songwriting a lot lately, as I'm happily consumed, now, with providing the life story vehicle, as you know, of singer/songwriter, Stephen Michael Schwartz. We both, thousands of miles apart, saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan in Feb 1964, a year-and-a-half apart in age. He was 10, and seeing them led him to the guitar, and to identify his talent in songwriting (melodies and lyrics).
Seeing that same show led me, a month from turning 9, not TO a musical instrument (although it motivated me to STOP playing the accordion, which I had done for a couple years), but to a lifelong love of concise, well-crafted songs, loaded (as their music was, early on) with multi-layered harmonies, and catchy melodies.
Clearly, songwriting wasn't MY inborn skill, but prose certainly was, as I discovered early on, by voraciously reading, in the '70s, numerous rock critics, like Substack's own Wayne Robins and Patti Smith (yep, she wrote before she sang, and more than just poems...her guitarist, Lenny Kaye, was also a rock journo!). Dad was a wordsmith, and Mom loved journalism, having once worked for Reader's Digest out of college.
Bottom line: Reading can't help but inform a writing skill (as others have so eloquently written in their comments), but it sure helps if writing (and having the love of words...hello, crossword puzzles, and, of course, an innate desire to read!) is a talent you have in your DNA to start with!
After all, it doesn't matter how many songs I've listened to in my life, I know I don't have the talent to write one, and it would never occur to me to try.
Well, yes, talent has to eventually take a front seat, but how do we get there? What is the catalyst, if not reading for the pure joy of it?
You love the creative aspects of songwriting and you write about it, but in order to write cohesively (and in a way that interests the rest of us) you had to first fall in love with and then study everything you could about that particular creative endeavor.
I have to think the falling in love part has more to do with it than the talent to dissect it and present it as a piece worth reading. Or at least it has to happen first.
The same could go for reading. You have to fall in love with it in order to understand how much a part of your life it is, and from there it seems logical that the next step for creatives is to try our hand at writing instead of just reading.
I don't know. I'm just throwing stuff out here. Our creative calling comes from somewhere. I've always wanted to figure out where it comes from, but maybe it's enough that we have it?
As a child, reading was my lifeline and it continues to be. I remember walking a couple miles to the library, the smell inside, and telling, Ms. Knox, the librarian, about the books I read during the week - that was 75 years ago. I have dabbled with writing, but it wasn't until a year ago that I got serious and began my newsletter. So, at least, the interests are complementary for me.
Yes, that sounds like my life, too, except my dad drove me to the library and sat patiently waiting until I made my selections. He was a nonreader who recognized my addiction and helped me feed it. He was my pusher!
I agree with so much of what’s been said here. Reading can only help to expand our vocabulary and sense of what’s possible. Not only do we learn from great writing, but it is a source of inspiration too. Personally, I would question the motivation of someone who wants to write but doesn’t read for pleasure. That just doesn’t make sense to me. Aside from anything else, how would you understand your reader?
Yes, exactly. I've never read anything by anyone who bragged about their dislike of reading that I thought wasn't a waste of my time. But they're the exceptions. They're proud of their limitations. It's the others who think they have the calling but lack the inspiration who need to be reminded that good writing doesn't come out of thin air. Any creative effort starts with a love for the finished product. In the case of writing, producing something worthwhile to read is the finished product. So how can you get there without spending a lot of time examining and enjoying the finished products beforehand?
Yes, my first advice to anyone who wants to write is to read. Sometimes reading 'great' writers can make us feel inadequate, can pile on the pressure. But simply enjoying a book and making an effort to understand why it works is immensely helpful. This is such a thought provoking thread and, as a newcomer, I'd like to say I've really enjoyed reading everyone's ideas. It's all too easy to assume that the writers we admire are just naturally gifted, but I believe the truth is that it takes a lot of effort and endurance - learning from mistakes and learning from others. I'm not sure that's possible without really loving reading and digesting a lot of books.
My feeling is that if you don't learn the craft of writing, your odds of becoming a good writer are slim. I essentially didn't know what I was doing until after I learned viewpoint - and I learned that on my own after getting a Masters in Creative Writing. So I think actually writing and studying how to write is most important.
I also happened to be a voracious reader when I was young - I would walk to the library once a week (that was a big deal at age 9-10!) with a friend and take out 10 books, which was the limit. I'd have them all done by the next week. I'm trying to get back into reading again because I enjoyed it so much all those years ago, but I rarely read a book I enjoy now like I did back then. I mean, my world was rocked when I read A Wrinkle in Time!
But don't you think your early reading and your love of it spurred you on to your writing career? Yes, there's much to be said for learning the craft, but I think it's made much easier when you've had all those early mentors (like Madeleine L'Engle) showing you the way.
Could you have accomplished it without the early reading? Maybe, but the ghosts of those writers were with you, spurring you on, showing you the possibilities. And you understood because you were comfortable with them; they were your friends. They fit easily into the spaces you left open for them.
I actually don't know if I can answer your question. It wasn't the writers who spurred me on and comforted me - it was the characters and the stories I dove into. I write because I write. I need to write. I don't need to read. I need to express myself. So perhaps the reading I did helped shape my creativity, but if you saw the book I'm republishing shortly, you'd see it has nothing to do with other writers I read when young. It's a different style than what I used to read. I believe everyone has a preferred form of expression, whether it's cooking, reading, writing, filming, speaking, etc. It's a matter of finding which outlet we're aligned to. And writing is how I communicate with myself, others, and my Higher Power. It's an interesting question - I'm going to think about it more!
You read the stories the writers gave you. You didn't create the stories and the characters, they did. They produced the atmosphere you were soaking in. You may not have realized it when you first took pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) but those humans put that bee in your bonnet. They gave you the idea that writing has the power to transform. They did it by transforming you.
All the rest falls into place, but the catalysts are there.
I think writers are born to write - whether or not they discover it in this life is another thing. Reading can help bring out the passion for writing and help one discover they want to write, but I do not think voracious reading necessarily makes one a good writer.
I believe you have to read in order to learn to write, so don't get me wrong. Someone who's never read is going to have a tough time becoming a writer - but I don't think one needs to be obsessed with reading.
I think we're born with the propensity to write, so reading might spark our desire, but walking through staples through the pen and paper department might also. Like it does for me - I can't go into an office supply store because I can't get out of the pen and paper aisles!....
I just LOVE a blank notebook and a new pen. That's not related to reading. So I guess what I'm saying is I don't think reading is what makes a writer. Writing makes a writer. Reading could be a guidepost, let's say, but it's not a determinant.
No, I agree. You don't have to be obsessed with reading. But I do think it has to have had a major share of any writer's life. It's the comfort factor again. It's much harder for new writers if they have to spend time getting cozy with the medium. Those of us for whom reading was second nature have a much easier time of it. I think.
But yes, the tools... I would be ashamed to show you how many writing tools I have scattered around everywhere in my home. I'm lured to bookstores and stationery departments, and don't ever want to know how much I've spent over the years to keep my habit going.
But that's all part of the craft. I would include books in there, too.
I only read parts of mandatory reading in school, never read a book in it's entirety my entire life! I've written poetry since I was 12 and have written thousands of works and published a novella on Amazon called EL Cabrone Hermanos: The Sicario
I appreciate your wanting to share your work, but this is a writer's room, not a reader's room. We share ideas and links about writing and then we discuss them. It's part of our craft and our community. Thanks for understanding.
They go hand in hand. Reading just by itself will make you a better reader. Writing by itself will make you a terrible writer. But writing *and* reading will make you a good writer. And writing, reading, *and* talent will make you an excellent writer.
It’s like gin and tonic. Gin by itself is decent. Tonic on its own is terrible. But gin and tonic together are fantastic. And a gin and tonic mixed by a good bartender is sublime.
It seems obvious that you’d need to read a lot to be a good writer, and that got me thinking about other creative modes. If musicians and composers need to listen to a lot of music, artists looking at paintings, cooks sampling a lot of foods etc., and the answer is always OF COURSE!
What’s weird is the fact that some people think there might be no connection between doing a lot of varied reading and one’s writing ability. I know that whenever I read there is a part of my brain noting why the writing does or does not work, and learning from that. It never ends!
Yes, i think for writers there always comes that point where we're not just reading, we're editing, too. It's kind of instinctive, I think, and may well be what comes first for the writer who reads.
We've all read something published and thought, 'I could do that better'. It's the spark that drives us. Not all readers have it, or even need it, but I contend that every writer does.
And then there's the spark that says, 'Brilliant! I want to do that. Just like that! I want to write like that!' That's when the trouble starts. 😉
Oh man. I snoozed on this one and now there has been a robust discussion I can’t even begin to try and follow.
I just came to say that there is storytelling and then there are mechanics. I think people can be good storytellers without having read much. They’ve got good imaginations, or strong modeling, that infuses into them and they can tell (or write) a good story.
Mechanics are hard without a lot of reading and / or direct education. I have had to beta read stories via text to voice because the writer is so terrible with mechanics - whereas you’ll be quite unlikely to find a usage error, misspelling, or unclosed quote/parenthesis in any writing I plan to give to people (even my rough work).
I will say though that somehow I internalized neither the reading nor the direct instruction prior to becoming an actual writer. I didn’t really think to organize my work around a thesis until I’d already been writing for an embarrassingly long time.
So, as usual, I’ve not answered your question. But if it counts for anything, I was nodding along as I read your Facebook response.
And I will contend that reading quality literature certainly can’t hurt.
Hey, we've been waiting for you! 😊 You're right, there are people who are good storytellers who probably don't read much. Appalachia and the American South are full of them. But the published writers will eventually have to learn the mechanics--right again.
They often have to leave home to understand how the world works and how they do or do not fit in. I'm guessing that requires a broader reading habit, which might have been easier if they had grown up with it. But again, I'm only guessing. I can't put myself in their place, which is why I started this thread.
to play a little devils advocate, when people say a history of reading improves writing, what they are implying is that, by some magical osmosis, readers absorb all the elements of style and craft and can remix those elements at will when setting out to create their own works. this is an unsubstantiated assertion. gather any 1000 voracious readers with no previous writing experience in a room and ask them to author a story. what percentage of those pieces will be great, or even good? has their reading habit automatically made them 'successful' writers?
writing is its own discipline. there are techniques one can learn, skills one can practice, but some people also have an innate talent for it, and part of that is picking it up through reading in the way some musicians can play a song by ear. not everyone has this ability, no matter how many books they read. furthermore, absorbing style, language, vocabulary might be essential to some kinds of writing, but less so to others. perhaps the kind of writing others want to do requires less time reading about the imaginary lives of others and more time having a life full of experiences worth writing about.
while all writers obviously need language skills, how much reading will be of benefit will depend on the individual and the kind of writing they hope to do. does every writer need 'voracious' levels of literature to succeed? i doubt it. creativity comes in many forms, and not all of them trace back to books--not even for writers.
i say all this as someone who reads at least 50 books a year.
These questions were for writers, not readers. A history of reading may not improve anyone's writing, but I contend it makes the journey much easier. That's my point. Writers with a long history of reading go into it far more comfortably than non-readers would, simply because they're not afraid of what's ahead. Reading isn't mystery or mystique to the writer who reads.
Reading is old shoe. Books are toys, then gifts, then necessities, and soon they become an addiction. They're windows to the world. We carry them everywhere and they become a part of us. So it just seems natural to me that the path to writing is made easier when the scenery is familiar.
well, i consider myself a writer. and when i was young, i enjoyed _reading_ fiction. but these days, not so much. i haven't truly enjoyed a work of fiction in years--not the way i used to. i certainly don't read it voraciously. but, oddly, i love to write it. and according to this model, i shouldn't be able to--or not well, anyway, because without other writers' fiction to guide and stimulate me, my creativity is just some clumsy vestigial organ.
of course i agree that reading can be a great facilitator to good writing. i'm just arguing it's not infallible, it's not the only one, and maybe not even the most important.
First of all, we're not just talking about fiction, although most of us probably do lean more toward creative writing in the form of essays, stories, and poetry. But there really is no consensus--and no right or wrong way.
Everyone has their own ideas and we all come at it from a different place, just as you have here. That's what makes conversations like this so interesting!
I would venture to say that whilst being a reader is important, not all folk who have read heaps make good writers. There are things that are even more important - powers of observation and imagination for example.
I guarantee there's many an excellent writer sequestered inside those not fortunate enough to have had exposure to copious books. To think anything else might be patronising - placing the skill of writing only in the laps of the lucky and educated.
Telling stories isn't uniquely a 'written' thing. Think back through history to those who told stories around the fire. Sometimes it might have been a those with no education/exposure whatsoever to books and yet a story was spun and imaginations were fired.
Reading massively (which I did as a child) guaranteeing a writing skill seems very much a First World observation to me.
No, reading a lot will never guarantee writing skills. That's not what I'm implying. My question is for people who already know they're writers. (That's us, right here.)
And neither does a good education make a good writer. My own education pretty much stopped at high school but because I had a solid foundation and a love for reading, I could go anywhere I wanted with it. I could learn almost anything--except those things further education would have opened my eyes to. I missed that. I don't know what I don't know.
Writing is my thing and I don't spend a lot of time wondering how I got here, but the question of whether or not writers need a good background in reading came up and I thought it was intriguing. And, man, wasn't it, though?
It's been a fabulous discussion. I'm a fiction writer with 14 books and assorted anthologies to emerge through the years, some award winners. BUT, I still can't credit that to my massive reading habits. In my head, it's all about so many other things but mostly about imagination. As a child I created worlds within worlds for fun. As an adult, I did and still do, walk the dog, telling myself stories in my head. I even do it as I drift off to sleep. Like an artist observes a world of colour, texture and shape and extracts a painting, print or ceramic from his/her imagination to define that experience, so do I, but in a different medium.
Ultimately we all have a different view as to what makes a writer. One thing I will say in respect of myself though, is that I LOVE words, adore them, and try and find myself a word for the week that is almost tactile - evoking feelings within (in fact eeee-voke was the word from a week or two ago). I suspect that habit may not have emerged without reading copiously.
"Like an artist observes a world of colour, texture and shape and extracts a painting, print or ceramic from his/her imagination to define that experience, so do I, but in a different medium."
Ya gotta read. Ya gotta read different authors and different genres and short stories and gawdawful long series and O. Freakin’ Henry. And decide what fits or matches or Yeah, I can do that!
I just found your wonderful newsletter, so I apologize for being late to the commenting party! I absolutely agree that you must be a reader to be a writer. How voracious you need to be or whether you need to have spent a lifetime reading is likely somewhat individual. Some people pick things up more readily than others. But I don't see how you can write without having done a fair amount of reading, any more than you'd be able to talk without first hearing others talk.
Hi Rosana, I just sent you an email, before I saw your comment here. Thank you so much for your support. and I'm so glad to see you here. I hope you'll come often.
I agree with you 100%, Ramona -- can't be a writer unless you're a reader. The only caveat, I think, is the "lifetime reader" part -- if people didn't read as kids but they want to write as adults, fine. Read a lot. It's not impossible. It helps if you start when you're a child, but you're not doomed if you didn't.
The idea that being a reader only makes you a better reader and has nothing to do with your skills as a writer is just poppycock 😂 Probably a statement made by someone who doesn't want to read. Sorry not sorry -- that's not how it works.
Yes, you're right, of course. 'Lifetime reader' can be pretty intimidating and impossible after the fact. Reading as a study, even if you're not instantly aware of it, can work at every level. The love of reading is essential. Maybe that would have been a better way for me to have put it.
I think this is a caveat worth noting. I read a fair amount as a child, but I certainly wasn’t voracious--I was interested in other things (crafts, music, playing with friends) and didn’t always carve out time for reading. I like to think I’ve made up for it adulthood as I read a ton now, but in honestly, my strong desire to write came before my strong desire to read. What we read no doubt makes us better writers, but I think a huge amount of improvement as writers comes from trial and error and practice in our own work, influenced what we read, yes, but not solely determined by it.
It's interesting to think about the writing coming first, and then the reading. What do you suppose prompted the need to write then? It could have been your interest in other things creative, like music and crafts, but wasn't the finished product the appeal? I mean, when you heard the music, or saw the craft, did it inspire you to try doing it yourself? Or were you content to be the audience?
Did you dabble in writing as a creative effort using your own imagination first, rather than seeing the possibilities in the books you read?
If so, when did that imagination manifest itself in your writing, and how did you know how to do it?
Sorry for the cross-examination but I really am curious. The process is so damned fascinating.
I suppose I read enough as a child to be inspired by stories, and to want to create stories of my own, but not enough to have absorbed what makes good writing good. I think reading with an eye for the craft of writing came later for me.
Not sure that answers your questions (not sure I even have the answers), but this has certainly got me thinking!
I think in our cases reading as children may have created a kind of wonderment that lay dormant but then carried over when the creative buzz began. I don't mean to analyze those beginnings to death; just to stress that there is a joy in reading that all good writers possess. If new writers can understand that need to find the joy it might make it easier for them as their writing matures.
It could be by not learning to love reading first they're putting the cart before the horse, wasting a lot of time trying to get there without the essential tools.
Just jawing here...
I really resonated with the sequence of things mentioned by you, Kate. I found the power of writing way before I cultivated the habit of reading. I am still working on the habit, having grown up in a culture where reading for pleasure was looked down upon. Yet, if I approach reading from "I want to become a better writer" lens, I get overwhelmed by the beauty of the language and the craft of the writer, and my motivation runs dry pretty soon. I want to read to be a good reader, and trust that it will automatically, subconsciously, eventually help my writing, along with the 100 other gifts that reading brings.
Two more quick questions that got stirred by your post, Ramona: 1. Why do many voracious and lifetime readers avoid writing so much? Does reading a lot of high quality, highly polished work for years make a person dread their own imperfect first drafts? 2. While reading can't be substituted, can it be expanded to reading niche genres, bits of non-fiction, listening to podcasts, watching movies, listening (like really listening) to people around us? Can a broad openness to language, life, story, and emotion suffice to nourish a growing writer?
(Happy to join your thread for the first time! :D)
Oh. My. Goodness. Ok, English teacher here and YES, reading matters. I am having so many problems with students who have no idea how to put ideas together in writing because they don't read. They don't know how ideas fit into sentences that fit into paragraphs that fit into essays. They don't know how to embed quotes because they don't even know what that looks like. They don't know how to synthesize multiple texts because they don't read writers who do that naturally. My own kids are voracious readers AND excellent writers and I'm convinced the two go hand-in-hand.
What a great explanation, Sarah, as well as an exoneration, I think! When I made that FB comment I didn't mean to discourage any writer who felt their time had passed because they hadn't read enough, but to me it's so essential and you've explained why
As Sarah Miller said, it doesn't have to be a lifetime of conscientious reading, it only has to be an awareness that it's a necessary learning tool. Wow! You nailed it!
I wrote a whole piece about it for The Educators Room 😊 https://theeducatorsroom.com/literacy-matters-and-we-need-to-start-acting-like-it/
There's so much to savor in your piece, Sarah, but what i get most from it is that we need to recognize the JOY of reading and capitalize on it. If it's presented as pleasure and not a chore, who wouldn't jump on it?
This is how we have to do it, as you say:
'We need to stop seeing preschool teachers as glorified babysitters and instead train them to be well-paid early childhood literacy experts who understand how to expose our little learners to language. We need to allow our Kindergarten teachers to get back to play and exploration with easy access to picture books and early readers in the classroom for those who are ready. When middle school teachers allow their students to do book reports and projects over graphic novels, we should praise them for meeting their readers where they are. And when high school teachers argue that English class isn’t about learning the classics but about teaching students lifelong literacy skills that will follow them to either college or their future careers, regardless of a student’s future vocation, we should regularly show teenagers how that is true in our own lives.'
I enjoy reading to discover what I'd like to write like. Bonus if the story is great. Does that make sense? Not copying, but the gist of why I enjoy a book, or a style...the nuance. Thanks for the prompt, Ramona!
Yes, that makes perfect sense. Reading for discovery is the kind of painless learning every writer needs in order to grow. There's no real need to teach writing when reading can do it best. What we're really teaching is awareness.
Look at this. See how they did this? See why it works? See why this doesn't? It can be a pretty insightful yet delightful process.
Exactly!
In language acquisition theory, there’s this idea that input has to proceed output. All humans have the innate ability to learn language, but their exposure to language is what ultimately drives their language ability and usage- what native language they speak, their vocabulary, grammatical structures, accent, etc.
I would imagine that reading has the same impact on writing. Much like oral language learning (both for native languages and discussed more prominently when talking about second language acquisition), there is likely a “critical period” when we’re younger in which the more we read, the better we get at it, and the more sophisticated language structures we pick up that we then in turn use in writing. Like another commenter said, it doesn’t mean that we can’t learn to write as adults, but we’re probably going to have a whole lot of reading to do (and maybe even writing workshops to attend) to catch up to our peers who have a lifetime of reading under their belts.
True enough. Your comment got me to thinking about oral storytellers when the written word wasn't available. The Finns, for example, were forbidden by their conquerors, the Swedes to have a written language, so they got around it with Runesingers--storytellers who memorized The Kalevala, their national epic poem, and wandered the countryside singing and reciting it and other stories of Finnish identity. The need for stories has always been there. And I suppose that's where we come in, no matter how we got here.
Great question, as usual, Ramona! Talent. I think it starts there. I suppose one's writing acumen can be learned without an innate, inherent talent to begin with. And, I certainly don't disagree with the "read more, write better" argument! I'm convinced Martin Mull came up with his pithy, "Some people have a way with words; others, not have way" with an eye toward how one gets to each verbal destination!
At the risk of sounding shamelessly self-promoting, I've been thinking about songwriting a lot lately, as I'm happily consumed, now, with providing the life story vehicle, as you know, of singer/songwriter, Stephen Michael Schwartz. We both, thousands of miles apart, saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan in Feb 1964, a year-and-a-half apart in age. He was 10, and seeing them led him to the guitar, and to identify his talent in songwriting (melodies and lyrics).
Seeing that same show led me, a month from turning 9, not TO a musical instrument (although it motivated me to STOP playing the accordion, which I had done for a couple years), but to a lifelong love of concise, well-crafted songs, loaded (as their music was, early on) with multi-layered harmonies, and catchy melodies.
Clearly, songwriting wasn't MY inborn skill, but prose certainly was, as I discovered early on, by voraciously reading, in the '70s, numerous rock critics, like Substack's own Wayne Robins and Patti Smith (yep, she wrote before she sang, and more than just poems...her guitarist, Lenny Kaye, was also a rock journo!). Dad was a wordsmith, and Mom loved journalism, having once worked for Reader's Digest out of college.
Bottom line: Reading can't help but inform a writing skill (as others have so eloquently written in their comments), but it sure helps if writing (and having the love of words...hello, crossword puzzles, and, of course, an innate desire to read!) is a talent you have in your DNA to start with!
After all, it doesn't matter how many songs I've listened to in my life, I know I don't have the talent to write one, and it would never occur to me to try.
Well, yes, talent has to eventually take a front seat, but how do we get there? What is the catalyst, if not reading for the pure joy of it?
You love the creative aspects of songwriting and you write about it, but in order to write cohesively (and in a way that interests the rest of us) you had to first fall in love with and then study everything you could about that particular creative endeavor.
I have to think the falling in love part has more to do with it than the talent to dissect it and present it as a piece worth reading. Or at least it has to happen first.
The same could go for reading. You have to fall in love with it in order to understand how much a part of your life it is, and from there it seems logical that the next step for creatives is to try our hand at writing instead of just reading.
I don't know. I'm just throwing stuff out here. Our creative calling comes from somewhere. I've always wanted to figure out where it comes from, but maybe it's enough that we have it?
As a child, reading was my lifeline and it continues to be. I remember walking a couple miles to the library, the smell inside, and telling, Ms. Knox, the librarian, about the books I read during the week - that was 75 years ago. I have dabbled with writing, but it wasn't until a year ago that I got serious and began my newsletter. So, at least, the interests are complementary for me.
Yes, that sounds like my life, too, except my dad drove me to the library and sat patiently waiting until I made my selections. He was a nonreader who recognized my addiction and helped me feed it. He was my pusher!
I agree with so much of what’s been said here. Reading can only help to expand our vocabulary and sense of what’s possible. Not only do we learn from great writing, but it is a source of inspiration too. Personally, I would question the motivation of someone who wants to write but doesn’t read for pleasure. That just doesn’t make sense to me. Aside from anything else, how would you understand your reader?
Yes, exactly. I've never read anything by anyone who bragged about their dislike of reading that I thought wasn't a waste of my time. But they're the exceptions. They're proud of their limitations. It's the others who think they have the calling but lack the inspiration who need to be reminded that good writing doesn't come out of thin air. Any creative effort starts with a love for the finished product. In the case of writing, producing something worthwhile to read is the finished product. So how can you get there without spending a lot of time examining and enjoying the finished products beforehand?
I think that's my question.
Yes, my first advice to anyone who wants to write is to read. Sometimes reading 'great' writers can make us feel inadequate, can pile on the pressure. But simply enjoying a book and making an effort to understand why it works is immensely helpful. This is such a thought provoking thread and, as a newcomer, I'd like to say I've really enjoyed reading everyone's ideas. It's all too easy to assume that the writers we admire are just naturally gifted, but I believe the truth is that it takes a lot of effort and endurance - learning from mistakes and learning from others. I'm not sure that's possible without really loving reading and digesting a lot of books.
My feeling is that if you don't learn the craft of writing, your odds of becoming a good writer are slim. I essentially didn't know what I was doing until after I learned viewpoint - and I learned that on my own after getting a Masters in Creative Writing. So I think actually writing and studying how to write is most important.
I also happened to be a voracious reader when I was young - I would walk to the library once a week (that was a big deal at age 9-10!) with a friend and take out 10 books, which was the limit. I'd have them all done by the next week. I'm trying to get back into reading again because I enjoyed it so much all those years ago, but I rarely read a book I enjoy now like I did back then. I mean, my world was rocked when I read A Wrinkle in Time!
But don't you think your early reading and your love of it spurred you on to your writing career? Yes, there's much to be said for learning the craft, but I think it's made much easier when you've had all those early mentors (like Madeleine L'Engle) showing you the way.
Could you have accomplished it without the early reading? Maybe, but the ghosts of those writers were with you, spurring you on, showing you the possibilities. And you understood because you were comfortable with them; they were your friends. They fit easily into the spaces you left open for them.
Or at least it seems that way to me.
I actually don't know if I can answer your question. It wasn't the writers who spurred me on and comforted me - it was the characters and the stories I dove into. I write because I write. I need to write. I don't need to read. I need to express myself. So perhaps the reading I did helped shape my creativity, but if you saw the book I'm republishing shortly, you'd see it has nothing to do with other writers I read when young. It's a different style than what I used to read. I believe everyone has a preferred form of expression, whether it's cooking, reading, writing, filming, speaking, etc. It's a matter of finding which outlet we're aligned to. And writing is how I communicate with myself, others, and my Higher Power. It's an interesting question - I'm going to think about it more!
You read the stories the writers gave you. You didn't create the stories and the characters, they did. They produced the atmosphere you were soaking in. You may not have realized it when you first took pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) but those humans put that bee in your bonnet. They gave you the idea that writing has the power to transform. They did it by transforming you.
All the rest falls into place, but the catalysts are there.
I think writers are born to write - whether or not they discover it in this life is another thing. Reading can help bring out the passion for writing and help one discover they want to write, but I do not think voracious reading necessarily makes one a good writer.
I believe you have to read in order to learn to write, so don't get me wrong. Someone who's never read is going to have a tough time becoming a writer - but I don't think one needs to be obsessed with reading.
I think we're born with the propensity to write, so reading might spark our desire, but walking through staples through the pen and paper department might also. Like it does for me - I can't go into an office supply store because I can't get out of the pen and paper aisles!....
I just LOVE a blank notebook and a new pen. That's not related to reading. So I guess what I'm saying is I don't think reading is what makes a writer. Writing makes a writer. Reading could be a guidepost, let's say, but it's not a determinant.
No, I agree. You don't have to be obsessed with reading. But I do think it has to have had a major share of any writer's life. It's the comfort factor again. It's much harder for new writers if they have to spend time getting cozy with the medium. Those of us for whom reading was second nature have a much easier time of it. I think.
But yes, the tools... I would be ashamed to show you how many writing tools I have scattered around everywhere in my home. I'm lured to bookstores and stationery departments, and don't ever want to know how much I've spent over the years to keep my habit going.
But that's all part of the craft. I would include books in there, too.
Yes, totally agree! And now I want to go off and buy a new notebook and some pens......
I only read parts of mandatory reading in school, never read a book in it's entirety my entire life! I've written poetry since I was 12 and have written thousands of works and published a novella on Amazon called EL Cabrone Hermanos: The Sicario
Well, there you go. Creativity always finds a way.
Yess ma'am God is good. Here is a link to a poem I wrote: https://ello.co/snakefistpanda/post/a689sfbyl85cd2shttgpig
I appreciate your wanting to share your work, but this is a writer's room, not a reader's room. We share ideas and links about writing and then we discuss them. It's part of our craft and our community. Thanks for understanding.
My first time on here, I apologize
No problem. And welcome.
This is a link to a series I've started called: The Last confessions of Jacob White. https://ello.co/snakefistpanda/post/_wpgcmrihplnz0lg05nkqq
They go hand in hand. Reading just by itself will make you a better reader. Writing by itself will make you a terrible writer. But writing *and* reading will make you a good writer. And writing, reading, *and* talent will make you an excellent writer.
It’s like gin and tonic. Gin by itself is decent. Tonic on its own is terrible. But gin and tonic together are fantastic. And a gin and tonic mixed by a good bartender is sublime.
Hmmm. I’m going to have to think about how that all works together. LOL.
It seems obvious that you’d need to read a lot to be a good writer, and that got me thinking about other creative modes. If musicians and composers need to listen to a lot of music, artists looking at paintings, cooks sampling a lot of foods etc., and the answer is always OF COURSE!
What’s weird is the fact that some people think there might be no connection between doing a lot of varied reading and one’s writing ability. I know that whenever I read there is a part of my brain noting why the writing does or does not work, and learning from that. It never ends!
Yes, i think for writers there always comes that point where we're not just reading, we're editing, too. It's kind of instinctive, I think, and may well be what comes first for the writer who reads.
We've all read something published and thought, 'I could do that better'. It's the spark that drives us. Not all readers have it, or even need it, but I contend that every writer does.
And then there's the spark that says, 'Brilliant! I want to do that. Just like that! I want to write like that!' That's when the trouble starts. 😉
It'd be fun to hear about the different writers who inspired your readers to say "I want to write like that!" Maybe a future prompt?
Yes! Maybe we'll do that next time. Great suggestion!
Oh man. I snoozed on this one and now there has been a robust discussion I can’t even begin to try and follow.
I just came to say that there is storytelling and then there are mechanics. I think people can be good storytellers without having read much. They’ve got good imaginations, or strong modeling, that infuses into them and they can tell (or write) a good story.
Mechanics are hard without a lot of reading and / or direct education. I have had to beta read stories via text to voice because the writer is so terrible with mechanics - whereas you’ll be quite unlikely to find a usage error, misspelling, or unclosed quote/parenthesis in any writing I plan to give to people (even my rough work).
I will say though that somehow I internalized neither the reading nor the direct instruction prior to becoming an actual writer. I didn’t really think to organize my work around a thesis until I’d already been writing for an embarrassingly long time.
So, as usual, I’ve not answered your question. But if it counts for anything, I was nodding along as I read your Facebook response.
And I will contend that reading quality literature certainly can’t hurt.
Hey, we've been waiting for you! 😊 You're right, there are people who are good storytellers who probably don't read much. Appalachia and the American South are full of them. But the published writers will eventually have to learn the mechanics--right again.
They often have to leave home to understand how the world works and how they do or do not fit in. I'm guessing that requires a broader reading habit, which might have been easier if they had grown up with it. But again, I'm only guessing. I can't put myself in their place, which is why I started this thread.
The answers here are amazing!
to play a little devils advocate, when people say a history of reading improves writing, what they are implying is that, by some magical osmosis, readers absorb all the elements of style and craft and can remix those elements at will when setting out to create their own works. this is an unsubstantiated assertion. gather any 1000 voracious readers with no previous writing experience in a room and ask them to author a story. what percentage of those pieces will be great, or even good? has their reading habit automatically made them 'successful' writers?
writing is its own discipline. there are techniques one can learn, skills one can practice, but some people also have an innate talent for it, and part of that is picking it up through reading in the way some musicians can play a song by ear. not everyone has this ability, no matter how many books they read. furthermore, absorbing style, language, vocabulary might be essential to some kinds of writing, but less so to others. perhaps the kind of writing others want to do requires less time reading about the imaginary lives of others and more time having a life full of experiences worth writing about.
while all writers obviously need language skills, how much reading will be of benefit will depend on the individual and the kind of writing they hope to do. does every writer need 'voracious' levels of literature to succeed? i doubt it. creativity comes in many forms, and not all of them trace back to books--not even for writers.
i say all this as someone who reads at least 50 books a year.
These questions were for writers, not readers. A history of reading may not improve anyone's writing, but I contend it makes the journey much easier. That's my point. Writers with a long history of reading go into it far more comfortably than non-readers would, simply because they're not afraid of what's ahead. Reading isn't mystery or mystique to the writer who reads.
Reading is old shoe. Books are toys, then gifts, then necessities, and soon they become an addiction. They're windows to the world. We carry them everywhere and they become a part of us. So it just seems natural to me that the path to writing is made easier when the scenery is familiar.
well, i consider myself a writer. and when i was young, i enjoyed _reading_ fiction. but these days, not so much. i haven't truly enjoyed a work of fiction in years--not the way i used to. i certainly don't read it voraciously. but, oddly, i love to write it. and according to this model, i shouldn't be able to--or not well, anyway, because without other writers' fiction to guide and stimulate me, my creativity is just some clumsy vestigial organ.
of course i agree that reading can be a great facilitator to good writing. i'm just arguing it's not infallible, it's not the only one, and maybe not even the most important.
First of all, we're not just talking about fiction, although most of us probably do lean more toward creative writing in the form of essays, stories, and poetry. But there really is no consensus--and no right or wrong way.
Everyone has their own ideas and we all come at it from a different place, just as you have here. That's what makes conversations like this so interesting!
I would venture to say that whilst being a reader is important, not all folk who have read heaps make good writers. There are things that are even more important - powers of observation and imagination for example.
I guarantee there's many an excellent writer sequestered inside those not fortunate enough to have had exposure to copious books. To think anything else might be patronising - placing the skill of writing only in the laps of the lucky and educated.
Telling stories isn't uniquely a 'written' thing. Think back through history to those who told stories around the fire. Sometimes it might have been a those with no education/exposure whatsoever to books and yet a story was spun and imaginations were fired.
Reading massively (which I did as a child) guaranteeing a writing skill seems very much a First World observation to me.
No, reading a lot will never guarantee writing skills. That's not what I'm implying. My question is for people who already know they're writers. (That's us, right here.)
And neither does a good education make a good writer. My own education pretty much stopped at high school but because I had a solid foundation and a love for reading, I could go anywhere I wanted with it. I could learn almost anything--except those things further education would have opened my eyes to. I missed that. I don't know what I don't know.
Writing is my thing and I don't spend a lot of time wondering how I got here, but the question of whether or not writers need a good background in reading came up and I thought it was intriguing. And, man, wasn't it, though?
It's been a fabulous discussion. I'm a fiction writer with 14 books and assorted anthologies to emerge through the years, some award winners. BUT, I still can't credit that to my massive reading habits. In my head, it's all about so many other things but mostly about imagination. As a child I created worlds within worlds for fun. As an adult, I did and still do, walk the dog, telling myself stories in my head. I even do it as I drift off to sleep. Like an artist observes a world of colour, texture and shape and extracts a painting, print or ceramic from his/her imagination to define that experience, so do I, but in a different medium.
Ultimately we all have a different view as to what makes a writer. One thing I will say in respect of myself though, is that I LOVE words, adore them, and try and find myself a word for the week that is almost tactile - evoking feelings within (in fact eeee-voke was the word from a week or two ago). I suspect that habit may not have emerged without reading copiously.
"Like an artist observes a world of colour, texture and shape and extracts a painting, print or ceramic from his/her imagination to define that experience, so do I, but in a different medium."
That's just sublime!
Ya gotta read. Ya gotta read different authors and different genres and short stories and gawdawful long series and O. Freakin’ Henry. And decide what fits or matches or Yeah, I can do that!
And there you have it, folks. It's how life has to happen for a writer. Whether we admit it or not, this is how we do it.
Even those who say they don't read.
Yeah. You do.
I just found your wonderful newsletter, so I apologize for being late to the commenting party! I absolutely agree that you must be a reader to be a writer. How voracious you need to be or whether you need to have spent a lifetime reading is likely somewhat individual. Some people pick things up more readily than others. But I don't see how you can write without having done a fair amount of reading, any more than you'd be able to talk without first hearing others talk.
Hi Rosana, I just sent you an email, before I saw your comment here. Thank you so much for your support. and I'm so glad to see you here. I hope you'll come often.
Your comment is truly appreciated.
Thank you for the warm welcome!