Productive reading

Very interesting and helpful answers!

 

I always find myself writing like whatever I just read. I don't mean I'll read something really good then try and emulate it, but I'll read anything at all and end up accidentally writing like it two seconds later. If I read a couple paragraphs of Poe, I'll start writing like him, and if I read something a toddler wrote, I write like a toddler. It's to the point where I have to keep books scattered all around me whenever I'm writing so I can go to the right author when I want to write something in a certain way. For example, if I want to write a character study, I'll get it down just how I want it if I read a little bit of Chekhov first.
But now I don't even know what my own writing is like anymore because of this and I'm wondering, is this how other writers work as well? Do other people have this problem?

 

Not as much as it used to. I have stories that read like pastiches of Nick Mosley and Maggie Atwood because they were what I'd been reading at the time.

Over time, the bits from each I liked most have been blended into my style. These days I find that while I still pick up influences my writing doesn't shift quite so much, maybe because the new stuff I'm collecting has a whole lot more diluting it. When I'm looking at one of my own stories now, I can still point out a bit of Mosley's dialogue or Atwood's rhythm or Jim Butcher's scene endings, but I don't think they're obvious to anyone who isn't looking for them.

 

I definitely feel other writers' styles creeping in sometimes. I do the same thing if I talk to someone for an extended period of time (adopt their speech patterns), so I always kind of thought I was just super impressionable, hahah. I think it's good to incorporate aspects of other styles; I don't know how many times I've been reading something and had to stop to go "Oooh, that was good!" and deconstruct what made it work so well. But it can be easy to get overwhelmed. The best 'cure' for me is to just cool it on reading for a while, write a lot to get the other stuff out of my system, and remind myself what I write like.

 

I just clicked your profile and see you're 20 years old.
At this stage of the game it's perfectly fine emulating the writers you come across. As a young artist I out-and-out copied the styles of other artists I admired. At some point you develop your own talent and with it, your own style.

 

Agreed. If you are that easily influenced, you just aren't hearing your own voice yet. Keep writing to hone your creative and story-making skills. Keep reading in order to try different styles and voices. Eventually you form your own.

 

I think it's mostly a matter of confidence.
It really wasn't until I was well out of high school that my own style emerged. Even then, there was a period of transition as little by little I let go and produced my own work.

 

Come on, you think you can write like Poe after reading a little of his work? If it was that easy... Anyway, consider yourself lucky if you feel your writing is similar to the great work you read. I'm a big reader. And I do think what we read has a profound effect on our writing. Readers are always better writers than nonreaders. I say let the work influence you. You will take things in your own direction and develop your voice along the way.

 

Does anyone have advice on reading? I know I need to do it, but how to I pick up on the important technical aspects of the novel?

 

A lot of it, after a while, is just absorbed. You'll find yourself picking up on different technical things.

What I do is look for specifics. If I want to see how an author transitions between scenes, I pay close attention to the beginnings and ends of scenes.

It helps to know what you're looking for. The more you write, the more specific questions you'll realize you have. Then, you can pay close attention to the areas you need help.

Amazon's "Look Inside" feature is also a wonderful tool. You can read the first few pages of tons of books. I use that feature almost daily.

 

I agree with @Spencer1990 . Choose a couple of areas of writing that you feel you need to work on for yourself. Then read a few books you enjoy, paying close attention to how the writer handles these areas. Here are a few areas it's worth taking a look at.

1) Transitions between scenes. Make sure your reader is never in doubt as to who, what, where and when, every time you change a scene or begin a new chapter. (The why isn't as important, because discovering the 'why' may be part of the story.) But any scene change needs a spot of re-orientation for the reader. See how other writers accomplish this.

2) Handling dialogue. There is basic stuff to get right, such as punctuation, and putting the dialogue attributions or action beats (he said, she said, Jack reached for his other sock) in the same paragraph as the speaker's words.

However, there is subtle stuff as well. How do you keep the reader on board with who is saying what, without repeating 'said said said said' to where it becomes annoying? How do you recreate a scene where people are speaking, so the reader can visualise what is happening? Even a radio play has sound effects, pauses, voice changes, etc. And a movie gives you all the visuals. You need to learn how to re-create this sense of 'being present' while a conversation happens in your story. A story writer has the added bonus of being able to directly reveal a speaker's thoughts and internal reactions. So check out how other authors manage this.

3) Beginnings. You have written the story, and YOU know what's going on. But your readers don't. They've just opened the book. Make sure you guide them into your story efficiently enough so they don't become confused or misled by what they think is happening. Beware of creating mystery where there is none. If the crowd watching a man giving a speech knows who the man is ...tell the reader who the man is—especially if he's going to be an important character. Don't waste lots of time calling him 'the man,' before letting us in on his name. It doesn't add mystery. It risks confusion. Pay attention to how other writers handle beginnings. Don't sacrifice clarity for art, if you can help it—especially at the beginning. Clarity is what grounds your reader and allows them to move on. See how other writers do this.

 

I have a very difficult problem in trying to find time in my day to work in writing + reading and I would like some help/advice on how I can work in writing + reading on a daily basis. Right now I work two full-time jobs (80+ hours per week), have a dog to take care of at home, and also have this huge house cleaning project to take care of that's been sitting at the back of my head for many months. To think clearly...and in order to enjoy writing + reading to the fullest, I need to complete this house cleaning project and since I'm rarely at home because of my two full-time jobs, it's hard to find time even to get that done. I have this story I'm just dying and burning to write but I don't know where in my day I can work this in? To help with my writing, I think keeping reading part of my day is essential. I would like to get a system going soon so I can write what an awesome story I have conjured in my head right now. Now is the time to write it and if I wait too long, I'm not sure what may happen to that fire. This house cleaning project makes it hard for me to write clearly so taking care of that is high priority and I've tried to work on that very hard but it will take great time to finish it. If anyone has any advice or tips on how you work in writing and reading everyday, I would be greatly appreciative of that! I believe writing and reading on a daily basis instead of every-so-often will help with the flow of my ideas and keep the fire burning to write. I've never been this excited to write a story before and I need to treat this desire to write (and read!) with the highest priority ever. Please share your thoughts.

 

Do you have to work two full time jobs? That does make this goal sound pretty problematic.

I am confused about the house cleaning job and why it's so big. Could you get just one little room in a clean, clear, undistracting state?

I would be inclined to temporarily put the reading aside, unless there's a place to force it in without costing much. For example, if you usually drive half an hour to work, can you take a bus for forty-five minutes and read on the bus? Can you play audiobooks while you're driving or housecleaning? Is any of your work so mindless that you could play audiobooks on headphones?

 

None of us can pluck time out of thin air unfortunately.

Although if you do two full time jobs that's at least one hour a day in breaks you could use.

 

Uh... honestly, realistically, I don't think it's physically possible.

• There's 168 hours in a week.
• You spend 80 working. That leaves 86.
• You need 8 hours of sleep a day. 8 hours * 7 days a week = 56 hours.
• That leaves 30 hours a week remaining, which is 4.5 hours a day.
• So you have 4.5 hours a day to do literally everything else. Cook, eat, dress, drive, shower, shit, buy groceries, pay bills, clean the house, walk the dog, run errands, socialize, ect.

And you want to write? Breathe, dude.

 

Never say never. You want it. Carve out the time for it. Instead of sleeping 8 hours sleep 6. That's 14 hours that just appeared. I've done your schedule, I worked from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30, then went home ate supper, grabbed my other set of work clothes and headed out the door till about 11:30 p.m. and then got up and did it all over again. Bothered by the house, hire someone to clean it for you... bothered by the house but don't want to pay to have it cleaned, grab your laptop and head out to your nearest coffee shop and bang out your book. Can't do that, find a spot in your place that doesn't look like something from Hoarders and write, even if its in the tub.

Make the dog walk itself, go to a puppy off leash area that has a caged fence around it and write while the dog runs around....

 

If you're going to give this writing project "the highest priority ever", give it the highest priority ever. Quit a job, or both jobs. Rehome the dog. Sell your house and move into an apartment with less housekeeping needs. etc.

Do I really think you should do those things? No, I don't, because I don't think a writing project should have the highest priority ever. I think it should be well down your list.

Writing's a hobby for almost everyone who does it. Because it has the potential to become a career, it's easy for writers (who tend to be imaginative people, after all) to escalate it to "career" status well before there's any reason to believe the potential will become reality. But right now, it's a hobby.

If you want more time for a hobby, you'll have to give up something else you do in your day. If your financial situation allows, you could hire someone to do the annoying tasks around your house (this is the route I've chosen - cleaning ladies, gardeners, someone to plow the driveway and shovel the walks, etc. - the time I don't spend on that I can spend writing, so I actually make money on the deal! Yay!). Or, in your case, if your finances allow, you could give up one of the jobs. If finances are tight, though? What else do you do with your time that isn't absolutely necessary to your functioning? Give it up.

Or don't. Maybe this just isn't the time for you to be writing. Your idea isn't going anywhere, so you can keep niggling away at it in your brain while you wait for the job situation to settle down, or whatever else.

(I don't recommend giving up sleep. If you're going to write well you need your brain to be at its best, and sleep's an important part of that.)

 

One thing you might try is getting up earlier just to write. I find that if I get up at the crack of dawn, I can write without worrying that there are dishes in the sink or laundry or whatever kind of big house-cleaning project you have. Just think of all that stuff as sleeping like most people still are. It almost feels like extra time to me (even though I know I'm giving up sleep for it). This is the time you are taking for yourself. You're not giving up sleep to clean the house. It is to write. And DON'T do it every day. At least not at first if you decide to try it out. It will surely be too much if you add it on daily. But what about weekly or biweekly? There's nothing wrong with a slow build. We all write our books in pieces. For me, mornings work best because my head isn't cluttered with everything that went on all day and I'm not exhausted from (What was that you said? Two jobs? Why?) two jobs. Just a thought, but it seems like from everything you have going on, you could totally crash and burn with or without adding reading and writing into your life. I'm honestly concerned because I worked to hard and did too much before. I won't get into my story, but I don't live like that anymore. Now, I am just a writer. I have never been so poor. I have never been so happy.

 

I was working 60 hours...only really by Sunday afternoon could I relax to type 1000 words.

These threads come up a lot - the people who aren't writing seeking our magic potions. Vials don't come cheap, eh. Remember that.

 

@Marthix2016: I think @CoyoteKing and @BayView's replies make the most sense.

I had to make a similar analysis a couple of years ago. My wife is a doctor, so works 80 hour weeks, which leaves me with the shopping, housecleaning, childcare, yardwork, house repairs/maintenance, bills, taxes, retirement planning, investment monitoring, banking, holiday preparation, vacation planning... on top of my own 50hr/wk job with a daily 3hr commute. It helped me sort out my priorities, and I dropped (postponed?) hobbies that would not lead to good long term enjoyment.

For myself, I determined that my priority system has to work like this:
1. family
2. health
3. work
4. other (which probably should be a hobby)

I don't sacrifice anything higher on the hierarchy for something lower on the hierarchy. Work doesn't compromise health, for example.

Which brings me to @deadrats suggestion to get up an hour earlier... I only suggest that if you're already writing 1 hour a day and want to experiment with rescheduling to get more productivity. In my house, mornings are good for writing, because nobody's up yet. But I was already writing evenings when I switched to mornings - it doesn't create more time, because we need to get to bed an hour earlier to compensate. The alternative - giving up that hour of sleep... sacrificing sleep is not sustainable health-wise, and it negatively impacts reading retention and writing creativity, which would defeat the point of the exercise.

In your case, your 'other' slot seems to be occupied with a 2nd job. From what I can tell, your calendar is full. It's not a failure to reassess and decide that writing is a hobby you just don't have time for right now, along with learning the piano, juggling, and volunteering at the food bank.

 

I'm still curious about a house cleaning project that will take a great deal of time. Is it possible that you're perfectionizing?

 

Thank you all for your suggestions and advice. I really want to make writing and reading a focus this year, it's my biggest New Years resolution. I started writing back in 2004 as a fun hobby for enjoyment back during my high school years. It was the most fantastic thing ever. Then came the age of social media and the hobby kinda got lost over these past few years. I pulled the plug on social media and while I work nearly 80 hours a week between both my jobs, I know I can still carve out some time in my day to make writing and reading a consistent daily hobby of mine. I just need to take care of this house cleaning project that snowballed itself into something so massive it'll take me months to complete fully...I say months because with working two jobs it's hard for me to be home. My mother suggested I read 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up' by Marie Kondo and it totally changed my perspective on cleaning up my house and my life. Getting rid of social media has helped a lot, life is a lot less stressful...now I just need to go through my entire house and throw away the items I don't need anymore and I have a ton to sort through. I need to get this house cleaning thing out of my head completely in order for me to feel comfortable in writing everyday. This house cleaning thing has been sitting at the back of my head for years. Once that is 100% done, I can relax and focus on writing and reading everyday. I want to make those two things a staple of my day. I just want to enjoy one of my favorite hobbies again and I've allowed a lot of things to get in the way of that over these years. Time for that to stop and get back to writing. Until I completely my house cleaning project, I'm writing down character bios, particular scenes in the book that pop into my head, and the overall framework of the story. I also love to draw my characters so I got that going too right now. I'm really excited about this story I'm going to write. Yeah, writing for a career would be cool but that is not the priority. Ultimately, I want to have fun with writing the story of these characters. I had a really dark and emotional year last year...I lost a person very close to me and he shouldn't have been taken away from me how it happened...he was my life's greatest hero. Lots of emotions about last year and rather than channel them in other ways, what better way than to channel it through writing and drawing? This story is going to be very special, it means a lot to me to write this story. I've been an artist every since I was young and I feel this will be my life's greatest work of art. So that's why I'm giving it the priority it needs to get to it. I'm a man who wants to enjoy one of his greatest passions because I want to tell this special story.

 

@Marthix2016 - I think you're doing what's right for you just now. An 80-hour week is punishing, no matter what the job actually is. The fact that you feel your life is cluttered is not surprising.

I know I like to feel my house and life are reasonably tidy when I do original writing as well. (I can do editing just about any time, but I need my brain to be free of other clutter when I produce a first draft.)

It's possible to use that need for tidiness as a procrastination device, but it's also possible that you really need to do it. It sounds as if you don't have a lot of control over the hours in your day at the moment, and that you lost somebody dear to you last year. So you're kind of overwhelmed just now. I think making a plan to tidy your house will give you control over some physical aspects of your life, and will work if you don't try to tackle too much too soon. Just do what you can every day, and see each bit of tidying you accomplish as a triumph. As long as your house got cluttered up by time constraints, and you are not an actual hoarder who can't bear to throw things away, you will find this exercise very pleasurable. Lovely to have breathing space again.

I also agree that channeling your emotions through writing (and drawing?) is an excellent way to not only produce something creative, but give your emotions some form as well. I would be cautious about writing autobiographically, though—a 'what happened to me' kind of thing. Instead, take your feelings and see if you can bring them to life entirely through fiction. This will give you so much power. If you feel things were unfair or that you lost your hero through something that could have been prevented, then in your writing you can change any/all of that. What if that person were still with you? What would be the story you could tell about him and yourself? (Fictional names, fictional situations, even fictional time periods or settings.) You should make the story exciting, and give your characters problems to grapple with, but you can bring your person back if you want to. It's very comforting and cathartic to 'put things right,' and as long as you don't use writing to just re-hash and over-analyze bad stuff, you will produce something that other people will want to read.

Good luck with both your tidying project and your writing/drawing! And enjoy yourself. You work hard, so allow yourself to enjoy your time off.