1. ***​
    This is an intervention.

    I'm suffering of something I’ve come to call "a reader’s block" (wowsers, how clevah, K!). Anymoo, it’s like a writer’s block in the sense that I have difficulties with starting or getting back to a novel I was reading, even though I’ve enjoyed the story.

    So I started to dissect this little brain defect o’ mine.

    I realized that there are at least three issues that keep me from fully immersing myself into a story other than the one T.Trian and I are working on (yes, I write with a partner):

    1) Plagcident

    I’m afraid of finding something familiar in another writer’s novel. A plot twist, a character, something that’s similar to one or few aspects in our WIP. As if me not finding it would make these possible similarities go away! I guess it’s a matter of accidental plagiarism. But why should I even care? Everything’s been done already ("you just have to put your own spin to it, hun"). I think I’m just afraid of that crushing feeling when you realize something you thought brilliant-er than a strobo-chandelier has already been done and “recycling” it would just make you look dumber than Paris Hilton in a power suit.

    2) Anal-lyzing

    I seem to be going through a phase during which I’m over-analyzing everything, including this. I’ve become very anal about grammar, writing techniques, pacing, etc. so when I’m reading a novel, I catch myself (nit)picking the prose instead of enjoying the story. It’s pretty tiresome, and I guess, knowing how tiresome it is, I’ve avoided picking up novels. Especially in English.

    3) Color Me Choosy

    It’s been very difficult to find novels that I actually enjoy. I don’t often follow through with the recommendations from others, to be honest, unless they are really good salesmen. I use Amazon to browse reviews, but it's fairly time-consuming because you can't trust everything that's said there, thanks to the relative prevalence of sockpuppets, plus some people bash books for no other reason but personal grudge or perpetual hemorrhoids. So I find myself returning to the novels I’ve read a gazillion times (and that are also safe accidental plagiarism -wise).

    ***​

    Curiously enough, I have no problem beta-reading. It’s fun. Maybe it’s more appealing because I feel like I contribute to something even though many stories I beta-read tend to have more hiccoughs than a published novel -- which is understandable (our WIP doesn't have just hiccoughs, it has effing TB).

    Still, it feels like not reading as much as I used to deprives me of so many things. Partly it feels like being the only absolutist at a kegger, partly like I was that asshole player who shows up to the band practice but never practices on her own at home.

    Should I worry? Should I just wait for this to pass? (it’s a phase, right, RIGHT?) Maybe I should just force myself to read more. Promise myself I have to read something new (and preferably in English) at least a little bit every evening before going to sleep, and that it has to be a novel, not a comic or a children's book or a fitness magazine.

    Yeah, maybe I’ll do that.

    Truth be told, I hope I’m the only one with this reader’s block ‘cause it SUCKS, but on the other hand it would be nice to learn I'm not the only loser on the block and how others have dealt with it.

    -KaTrian

    P.s. Anyone else overtly and ridiculously vexed over the typo in Global Categories? (Developement. Neat.)
    P.p.s. Feel free to recommend me books. I like action and flat-chested female heroines.
    Simpson17866 likes this.

Comments

  1. Woodhouse
    Insightful self-analysis, and thought provoking for me. I can't offer much solace, because I find your reasons for avoidance to be pretty good ones: The mystery is why more writers don't have the symptoms! As a long-time writer of nonfiction, I never had problems reading fiction. Now that I'm struggling to write a Utopian novel, however, I have begun to share facets of your "reader's block," especially the sinking feeling that comes from reading something similar to my own WIP. Fortunately or un-, I'm still in the neophyte's phase of appreciating how a good writer accomplishes a change of scene or another writerly act; so even though I'm undermining my enjoyment of reading by focusing on their techniques, at least I may be learning something. In a sense, then, I look forward to becoming good enough at technique to join you in a more thoroughgoing avoidance of other authors!
  2. KaTrian
    Haha, thanks for the comment. Good luck with your writing :) Utopian novel sounds interesting! Well, I kept my promise and read a few pages last night. I managed to sort of get caught up in the story, but also caught myself nitpicking in my thoughts ("this could've been written differently") :p
  3. jannert
    I think I know what you mean, about not enjoying reading so much.

    I'm finding the same problem myself. However, I think a lot of it stems from the way so many modern books (including so-called 'literary' fiction) just don't draw me in as a reader. Sometimes there is so much self-conscious attempt at clevery prose that I feel distanced from a story almost from the outset. Also, the emphasis on 'short' novels and action-driven gimmicky stuff (never write a Prologue, start with a bang...) just feels forced and shallow to me.

    So perhaps it's not you! Perhaps it's what you're trying to read.

    I'm not saying that most modern writing is bad, but there often isn't that sense of snuggling down with a book that's going to result in you living in another world for a few days. At least not for me any more. I think we're all being driven to write for people who either don't have time to read, or who require heavy TV-like doses of ACTION, SUSPENSE, ROMANCE, ANGST and all those other upper-case qualities that sometimes get in the way of a good story.

    Or maybe that's just me. I'm getting old.
  4. KaTrian
    Thanks for your comments, jannert! Hm, I think you're onto something. I have had trouble finding something that'd appeal to me when it comes to contemporary lit. I've tried to read many novels that have been hyped really good in the genres I like (works by Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, Jim Butcher...), but somehow haven't managed to stick to the story. I actually like slow-paced stories, novels that revel in detail every now and then. 'Mistborn' by Sanderson had potential, but I dropped it when the characters started mulling over something for pages on end. I don't know, endless dialogues don't always work for me :p. Anyway, I just critted one excerpt in the workshop, I think it was 'Displaced in Time' and I liked how the author put a lot of effort in detail and surroundings. Unfortunately 1st prsn POV didn't work for me there. Meh, picky me.
    I didn't do my evening-reading yesterday, I was too tired, but I managed to read some F. Scott Fitzgerald earlier and couldn't help but notice that I got caught up in the story and its world. Maybe I should look into classics now that I'm having this reader's block. I have always wanted to read Alexander Dumas, so maybe I'll hit the library and look for something by him :)
      Delise likes this.
  5. jannert
    Yeah, I wonder, sometimes, if writing wasn't 'better' back in the day when it was harder to do—no wordprocessor/internet, but only typewriter or handwriting—and less proscribed as to form and content. Now it's all: 'produce a novel in 30 days by following this formula.' Even though these products are slick and readable, so many of them seem to lack heart and soul.

    I'd say you could do worse than look backwards for good reading material. You don't have to go all that far back, actually, but maybe just back to before computers and eBooks? I think that's when writing 'changed.' That's not me knocking computers, as I never would have written mine without a wordprocessor, but just an observation.
  6. KaTrian
    I hear ya. I actually realized that there are still a couple of novels by Toni Morrison I haven't read yet! With her novels I'm not going very far back. Man, she writes beautifully. I also love the Dark Tower series by Stephen King up until The Wolves of Kalla which was written something like decades later.

    I do have hopes that we, new writers grown up with computers, fast food entertainment and facebook, will be able to write soulful stories as well :)
  7. ithestargazer
    I'm glad I came across this entry. It puts to words a niggling feeling I've had in the back of my head - a feeling that has made reading uncomfortable. I must have reader's block! The first two points you made were especially relevant to me. I've been reading YA and urban fantasy (well, trying to without much motivation) and I'm terrified every time a detail pops up that's similar to something I've written. I feel like my imagination has been cheated,robbed and left for literary limbo. The second point you made is exactly why I'm trying not to reread books from the past that I've loved. While I'm in writing mode (now-ish), I'm in an intense routine of critiquing and meddling. This extends to everything everywhere... books, movies, billboards, facebook posts, etc. It's not healthy and I'm trying to quit. The best thing I've found is to read read read before I turn the computer on and begin writing. Once I'm in a writing zone it's harder to come back to the real world than it is when I'm coming out of a reading zone.

    So no, you're not alone.
  8. KaTrian
    I'm sorry to hear you struggle with something similar. Thanks for the advice! If I go writing just after reading, I've noticed that sometimes the tone of the other author leaks to my writing. It's awful, because I know I have a voice of my own (everyone has), but sometimes I catch myself writing something that's amazing when done by Herbjorg Wassmo, Toni Morrison or Yvonne Vera but god-awful if done by me. One thing I shouldn't do is get poetic... :p
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