Can you be a writer but not a reader??

And that is fair enough. I'm always trying to encourage friends in real life to read and they're not even writers. You can't force it. But to me it's like a whole dimension that is closed off to a mind. However, I have met people online who write beautiful words, sentences that make me sigh. But seriously, the moment I ask them to be imaginative...Bad, bad, bad...

So all the reading in the world will not help someone who struggles with original creative thought.

 

I don't get the sense you're a very old person. It only took me to 39 to stop ignoring all forms of poetry. So I get it when you say, you don't want to read anything you don't enjoy. Just to be clear, I'm not saying you yourself will not write better, only due to personal taste you've locked yourself from a whole realm of experience that might take you to a different place. Who knows.

But I'll stop badgering you as you know yourself best.

 

It's possible many of these same people will be the ones on the forums asking for help the most. I've seen it happen. Because they have no idea what constitutes to a good story, no idea what they even like. But then the good citizens of the forums who do read a lot, and I am certain our strongest contributors are big readers, will help. I have to wonder if all the 'reader' writers decided not to help and give guidance, if these non reader wannabe writers will not finally go read a book and figure it out for themselves...

 

Writing without reading is like building a car though you only know what it looks like from the outside.

You're either going to have one hell of a time trying to piece together what it took tons of others decades (hundreds of years) to figure out, or you're going to make something completely different.

That 'different' can be groundbreaking, confusing, or unappreciated till after your dead, and if you really did it right, all three.

 

I agree that different people's brains work in different ways, but I also think it's important to remember that different people have different goals in their writing.

A - Some people write primarily for enjoyment or self-expression. For them, I don't really see a reason to read if they honestly don't enjoy reading.

B - Others write to get published and sell books. For them (us), I think it's ridiculous to not read widely, in order to hone their craft, and also read extensively in their genre, to know what's been done and what's selling.

C - Others, I think, write to produce something "great" that will be widely admired. This is connected to the second group of authors, I think, in that the best way to get attention for their writing is to get published and sell books. But what they write will have to be distinctly different from what's gone before, so I can understand an argument from these writers saying they shouldn't read. I think it's a misguided argument, since you can't really create something different if you don't know what's out there, but... I an understand it.


And then, based on these different goals, we have different understandings of what it means to say "my way works". If people from Group A say "our way works" they mean they're able to write in a way that pleases themselves. People from Group B express success when their book sells. People from Group C? Honestly, I've never interacted with a person from Group C who has succeeded. I know they exist, but they're so rare they're hard to chat with.

I think all of this is fine, except when people forget or shift their goals in order to feel successful. I mean, if it's a defense mechanism, okay, do what you've got to do, but if you set out to write a book that sells lots of copies and then you shift around to say that you've found success just by finishing a work that you find pleasing, you're not doing yourself any favours in the goal-reaching game. I'm not saying "finish the book" isn't an important step in the process, but if all you can do is finish books that you find pleasing, you need to learn more/change your process/experiment or change something if you want to reach your original goal.

Kinda long-winded - I got carried away, there! Basic point, I think, is to keep your own goals in mind and if you aren't reaching your goals, figure out why. Reading is one of the best tools for doing that, for most of us, but probably not for all.

 

I reckon there's a D and E somewhere in the list - but I'll write them up - later on when my head clears - from working so hard - at work, very tiring on a soft mind.

Also, I understand @Selbbin's point about preferring Atari and Batman, all that jazz with the kids and stuff, which leads to my point, almost, really. Writers who don't read are the primary school children with their crayons, and a jolly good thing. Whereas great authors such as myself - we're more like the adults with the painting by numbers magazines - and oils in year two.

Same with gardening...I envisage a time when I might enjoy a greenhouse for more than the most obvious of reasons. A time when I might, well, I am thinking of being a Schubert kind of person, maybe wearing a Panama hat, flowers aren't so bad, I suppose, and a radio, so that's the answer.

 

I'm currently in that stage and have been for a couple of years. But for almost a decade I was an avid reader. It wasn't until I hit high school and had a ton of coursework that I had to cut back on stuff I did in my free time. Also lately it's been very hard to find things I'd be interested in reading.

 

Huh? What? My mind has moved on from this thread. Just go read a book @Selbbin!

 

@Selbbin If that makes you happy!

Can you please write a review on it when you are done? I'd be interested.

 

That is a Book of the Century.

 

I am pretty confident those great sagas, like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, have prepared me for a life of high literary achievement.

 

I'd say for the majority of people, reading is required to become a better writer. I don't believe you have to be an avid reader to become a great writer, but it may take more time. I'd be surprised if a writer didn't enjoy at least some type of reading, not necessarily books in their genre, but even magazine articles, etc.

 

I can only talk from experience. I wrote without having read too much. I think, in total, I read two book--one book went right through me and the second one stuck.

So, yes, you can be a writer without being a reader. But in the long run, you'll inevitably become a reader. A book will come your way that'll knock your socks off and change your world.

 

Can you be a writer and not a reader? The answer is no. How can you expand your vocabulary without reading books, how can you better understand story arcs and structures without reading? You can't. It's pretty cut and dry.

 

Wait.

You're saying you've only read two books in your life?!?

What were they?

 

Find the shoeless guy with dysentery. He knows.

 

Lol. Maybe I should have been clearer and less shit: The first time I started writing, I only read two books--the first I don't know the name of and the second called The Restless Dead by Daniel Cohen. I was a child then, and I was extremely proud what I came up with (demons and knights waging war). When I got older, I started reading more and more, picking up tricks and learning how to break a few rules along the way.

 

You don't qualify. We need a total bloated ass never read a ruler, and so full of opinion...

 

Shards, are you worried you won't be a good enough writer because you like to write more than to read?

I can assure you, everything will line up for you. Be patient with yourself.

EDIT: Forgot the S.