It's official: Reading makes you a better writer

The comments about King's writing being this or that reminds me of this interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIRh26VUNWU&feature=fvst

 

I'd sure like to see the rest of that interview, I'll have to look for it on youtube now. Thanks for the link, that was interesting.

 

I read two of his books and they were very boring.I don't know why he's famous, I know some authors who are better than him and they are not famous.

 

Since I'm putting off writing right now anyway, I'll bite.

If you care to share, what were the two King books you read?

 

the girl who loved tom gordon and bag of bones...believe me,they're super boring

 

You read the wrong books. I hope you consider going back to King, because those are a couple of his stinkers. If you read 1 King book, read The Shining.

 

I actually really enjoyed The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon... I didn't find it boring at all.

 

LOL its like I loved the TommyKnockers - no one else seems to have chosen that as their favourite Stephen King.

 

I don't know why I'm defending King anyway - like he needs it. lol.

 

Bag of Bones is definately my fave Stephen King, closely followed by Duma Key and On Writing.

As to the thread title, I think what you learn from other works of fiction is more subconscious than conscious. Unless of course you are reading non-fiction and your aim was to learn. You have a good basis on a personal level and I think reading other works subtly pokes you to notice subconsciously a new way to go or a tweak to how you write currently. I think directly comparing yourself to another is unfair to you and can backfire massively. I think that by reading The Stand was a realisement of all these subtle tweaks but in a more overt fashion. I question whether one book can have taught you so much, IMO.

 

I won't deviate from my assertion that The Stand remains his most impressive work, but I do have a soft spot for The Dead Zone, which was the very first SK novel that I read.

I personally think that he jumped the shark at least 20 years ago, but for a while he was great.

 

I just want to jump in here and say I love Stephen King's Bag of Bones. It's absolutely one of my favourite books!

As for reading making you a better writer - I do feel you learn a lot from reading the works of other authors. Stephen King once said (I think he actually wrote it in 'On Writing') that you have to read a lot in order to be a good writer. It makes sense to me.

 

Of course reading helps. It helps you distinguish good work from bad work. It exposes you to differnet styles. If you never read fiction you probably shouldn't try to write fiction. Years of driving can help you recognize when a car is not running well. You might know what several of the parts are. That doesn't mean you can identify why the engine is not doing well. It doesn't mean you can fix an engine or build one yourself. I am still in the early stages of learning to write. I took a couple of power mechanics courses in high school [the reason the reference came to my mind]. Before we ever touched a single tool or part we had to sit down and learn the laws that make engines work. Storytelling doesn't follow as rigid a set of rules as four stroke theory but I believe there are things you need to know that you can't get from just reading alone. To me reading lays the foundation that you build on with everything else.

I've read several Stephen King books, the Dark Tower series is probably my favorite so far. In particular the Gunslinger and Wizards and Glass. Admittedly he has a lot of work I haven't read up to this point.

 

Reading helps, that's for sure, even if the writing was boring.