Writing Vs. Reading

By TheWritingWriter · Feb 26, 2012 · ·
  1. I think there's a stereo type that all writers are books worms. I'm sure that a lot of writers love to read. I've met a bunch of writers who spend hours & hours in a book, but I'm not that way. I developed a passion for writing long before I started reading regularly. I don't even think that I can say that I've ever been a regular reader. I've enjoyed writing, and I enjoy studying literature and rhetoric, but I am not, and have never been, a book worm. I like to study and I like to do research, but when it comes to going to a book store and finding a story and reading it, I'm an alien.

    I like to COLLECT books, but I don't really read them. I have an interesting taste in literature and film. Normally best sellers don't interest me. I like the books that have been forgotten that are stuck in the back with rather dismal sales. So taste is one reason why I don't read much, but lack of patience is another. I've never really been a patient person. That's probably why the book has to be extremely interesting for me to read it. It has to catch my interest and attention straight off, or I'll throw it in a pile and never look at it again.

    I have a bunch of friends who will buy like five books and read them all in a week. I've done that before, but only because I was interested in the series. I rarely have phases where I read a lot. I never look for something to read. I either read to work out of a writer's block (which a method I rarely resort to), to study another writer's style, or I just stumble across a book I just happen to find interesting.

    What's worse is, I don't enjoy television shows as a viewer. I enjoy them as a writer. There's this television show that I've been watching, & I thoroughly enjoyed it at first. As most TV shows run their course, though, the story line gets tighter and tighter. I think people don't understand that television is just another form of writing. There are a panel of writers behind everything that happens in these episodes. So, on this forum I'm a member of, based on said television show, the members are getting really frustrated with the characters. "PERSON, Y U DO THIS? U NO MAKE SENSE!" Where as, I see it as, "Oh, what terrible writing." It's all just writing to me, and it's turning into terrible writing.

    I decided that I might not be able to handle the atrocious writing on the TV show anymore. (I'm secretly hoping that the writers are all gonna get fired and replaced, haha.) So, I considered reading the book that the television show is based off of.

    Well, of course, I know what the books are about, but that really isn't the only factor. A story can be interesting, yeah, but if the writer has a terrible writing style? No - I can't do it. I don't care if you're giving me the manual to save the f*ing world. If your style sucks, I can't handle it. Just no. I can't and I won't.

    When it comes to stories of any kind, TV, movie, books, games, I'm extremely analytical when it comes to the writing. What happens to who, who happens to what. But what gets me the most about TV shows is how writers give themselves loopholes to keep the story going. Yeah, that's just the industry. I understand. But damn it's annoying for meticulous people like myself. I can't help it. It bothers the crap out of me.

    I get aggravated by all around bad writing (& ofc bad has all to do with your opinion.) & it's only because I experience stories always as a write. An upside though, is when there's a magnificent story with a wonderful storyline, character base, & overall productive, I enjoy it a lot more than I think a normal viewer would. So the glass is still half full. It's not all terrible.

Comments

  1. INFJ
    Nice blog post.

    I feel a similar way about writing versus reading. However, when I was younger, I did devour novels, short stories, essays, and philosophical writings. I just feel picky now about what I do read; I have a problem finding fiction that I think should exist. This is probably why I've been writing more lately - to try to create what I can't find.

    I have to remind myself though, that reading can be beneficial in discovering new ideas- as well as new ways to perceive the world. For me that is helpful in expanding the scope of my writing.
  2. jazzabel
    I can sort of identify with this, but I was all wrong to think this way, so I thought I'd share.

    I was never a book worm but I adored reading as a child and a teen. I was one of those delinquent kids smoking behind school, Dostoyevsky in hand. I read so much by the time I went to medical school, I thought I'll never stop. But, my Uni was in a foreign country, foreign language, and it was hell, absolute hell trying to learn all that, and I don't even speak the language well! Anyway, a few years into it, my language improved enormously, but all throughout I was so drained from all that studying, I used to say that I was allergic to the written word. I don't think I read more than 10 novels in about 12 years. Then I went on a sabbatical leave, and writings literally poured out of me. The next 4 years I spent writing feverishly. And it was pretty decent, readers really loved it. But I swore that there is no way I could read and write at the same time. I felt it would ruin my writing, I felt I wouldn't be able to stick with it (patience) etc.
    And then, a year ago, I picked up one of my favourite childhood books ("The Three Musketeers" by Dumas) because I wanted to read about a character I've been inspired by for a long time (Milady Winter). Since then, I started to read again, all the time, and I am not quite sure now how I managed all these years without it.

    But the point is, it wasn't until I started to read again, that my writing really improved.
    And I never read books that don't grab me, I have no qualms leaving a book if I don't like it, but if you choose carefully, you won't have that problem often :)
  3. Soulfighter-123
    Honestly, I love how much I can relate to this post! :D. I've been writing forever, but I've never exactly been a 'bookworm', as such. Just like you, I have my own tastes. 'Bestsellers' don't usually attract my attention, because most likely, it will turn out to be something which doesn't fit my taste.

    The whole post is brilliant. :D. I'd like to read some of your pieces. You seem like you might write the sort of stuff that would catch my eye. ;)
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