Reading to Become a Better Writer

Do you read Writer’s Digest? If you do, flip to their “Highly Successful Habits of Debut Authors” section. There’s one thing that is asked in almost every interview that they have with an author:

“Who inspires you?”

Recently, the author of The Jungle Law, Victoria Vinton, gave a very insightful interview. Within it, she quoted Gary Paulson who once said that aspiring writers should “read like a wolf eats”. Victoria also went on to give her own advice, “Read voraciously. Read attentively. Read deeply and diversely. Read with your heart and mind alert to every nuance of language and craft.”

So … who inspires you?

Read the Genre

Even if you never get past the titles of ¾ of the books being published in the genre you write in, it’s important to know what other people are doing. For writers, being aware of what’s going on means knowing what’s being published, even if you can’t read everything.

New titles bring new ideas and techniques. Absorbing the new creations and voices tells you a lot about what’s working. So, if you write romance, you should know what’s being published in the romance genre. You should be aware of what topics are flooding the shelves, and which ones aren’t showing up much. Take the whole romance shelf at a supermarket and look at how the titles represent a genre – what’s missing? What’s new, something you’ve never seen before?