Try audiobooks. I love them, and I can get through more books in a year than almost anyone reading text. You've probably heard it, and it's good advice: Read a lot; Write a lot. It's insanely difficult for anyone, regardless of innate talent, to write well, if they're unfamiliar with the way things are done in books.
I try. I really do. Takes about fifteen minutes before my head hits the table. In contrast, I can write non-stop ten hours a day, twelve if somebody feeds me!. What has helped me most to understand the process, and what works and what does not, is critiques. They are of immesuable value to the way I learn. I'll keep trying, though. Once every few years something holds my attention cover to cover. I cannot remember the last book I read. Ouch.
I'm going to search Amazon, see what they have. Still not going out to bookstores - or cafès or supermarkets ...
None. But I really like bookstores. I often include them in my stories. Libraries, bookstores, bookfairs. Too weird, right? When researching lit agents, I look over their list of books / authors they rep, or look up the books they say they like, and that they are always looking for something in the vien. I find many of them on Amazon with the 'peek inside' option, and read what's avail. Then move on. Nothing.
Then how do you know you are writing effectively? If you have no desire for the product you are creating, I'm having a tough time understanding what part of the product appeals to you. Common advise is to write what you know and write what you like to read. How can you write something that interests you if you don't read? This is a confusing concept to me.
I am not sure how to explain this. I love cars, especially older cars, which I also often put into my stories. 30s, 40s, 50s. The very early Mercedes Benz (an XG uncle created Cadillac and Lincoln). They were works of art back then. But, I do not own a car, nor do I even drive. But I love old cars. I understand how they work. New cars are of no interest me. None of them. I also love old typewriters. I learned to write on one, but I don’t use them anymore. They are impractical now, but I do not love them any less, and I keep a few around for the sake of display, and tink the keys from time to time. The books I most enjoyed in the past were turn of the century. William Morris, George MacDonald, and my fave, James Branch Cabell. Maybe I was born in the wrong century! That could explain a lot. I also like Voltaire and Chaucer. My XG Aunt is Mercy Otis Warren, one of the great writers during the Revoltionary War, and one of a very small handful of women behind the pen at all. You can wikipedia her. Maybe she's channeling herself through me !! My partner reads voraciously. She has a lot of books, loves Asimov. When I am writing I borrow one or two books just to skim through and make sure my work resembles the formatting in the book. Quotations are right, paragraphs look okay. I have only recently put my novel work up for critique, and received some really great feedback on how to make it better and more readable. Not because it was any good. Yet. But I learned a lot doing just that, and then pounced on my work and made many of the suggested changes. And yes, it feels much better. Editing is tough, taking out some lines and scenes you really like, but then realize a reader just doesn’t follow, or is lost in all the pet scenes. So I’ll forever keep the ‘Author’s Cut’ intact, and write for what the readers, hopefully, will be looking for (without caving into market trends). It is not that I don’t like the product. I adore it. I just can’t find anything that holds me. Not for some time anyways. Years, so I have lost interest - in reading, not books. I am also a self-taught screenwriter and have made a small living at it for 18 years – even though I rarely watch films, or read screenplays other than for critiques, and that is not very often. I've done a few here. I am hoping for a repeat success with novels. It can be done. The road less traveled, but it gets there eventually. Hope that helps.
You're not alone. I'm not an avid reader and most books bore me. There have been many discussions here about the legitimacy of being a writer and not a reader, as most believe (and there is truth to this but it's not exclusive) that you need to read a lot to write well. I have a large collection of books, mostly famous classics, and read samples now and then to study style. Few books hold me all the way. I also read weirdly. For a long time I would read random bits in the book, and keep going back and forth looking for new bits that I haven't read yet, until the book was finished. It's odd because it creates a fragmented narrative, which influences my prose writing. I completed Castaway (By Lucy Irvine), Three men and a raft, A walk in the Woods, all of Bukowski's novels and Last Exit to Brooklyn this way. The last book I managed to read start to finish was The Curious case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde. And that's very short. I feel my impatience with reading makes my writing more punchy. I get on with it. I've developed my understanding of plot and narrative structure through films and screenplays, which I find much easier to engage with. Even then many of the screenplays I had to read for editing and analysis I couldn't finish because, well, they were shit. Edit: I can see that a discussion about trying to fathom "how can you possibly write well if you don't read" is starting up here.... and I suggest not going too deep into it because it's hard for anyone to understand someone else's experience, especially when there is a preconceived belief of the norm.
I'd concur - and hat on it we've had threads about writing without reading before and they always turn into a swamp... I suggest we move swiftly along to anything anyone else would like to confess
I confess that in the late autumn of my life, I still love and eat peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches.
Amazon's audiobook store is audible.com. They're a little expensive though: $15 per month for one credit. After that, they're anywhere from a few dollars to crazy expensive. They do have some good free titles now, but you still need that $15 membership. Do you have a library card? Most local libraries have tons of audiobooks now, and you can download them right to your phone. You don't have to go to the library at all. Most will let you sign up online too, so if you don't have a card, you can get one while staying safe at home. Librivox.org has thousands of volunteer-read public domain books. Some recordings and performances are terrible, but some are fairly good. PM me for more. I know how to track down an audiobook. I've finished well over three-hundred in the last three years alone, and every one of them was on my "to read" list. None were chosen as a last resort.
You are not alone, or at least in part. I read books, but they are non-fictional books, while I write fictional ones. (I did write a memoir however). They say write what you read, but I admit that I never do.
The public interactions on Halo Wars 3v3 during hour+ games on 360 were awesome back in the day. Those times will never be repeatable. I thought my Doom collection of 30 books/editions and a door mat was bad. Edit: Guess i'll confess I have a custom painted Ouija table in my living room. I haven't used it yet, after owning it for two years. But i'll get a picture up once I replace my smashed phone...
I once sent someone I didn't like videos of medical procedures such as bone marrow transplants and lumbar procedures.
I want to join in a women's circle. Specifically to relate to and connect with women in a spiritual and emotional way. But I'm a stock-standard cookie cutter white cis-hetero man boy.
I am a straight male who is a fan of the TV show Sex and the City. I like pizza with pineapple on it. I once considered robbing a bank. Now considering turning it into a story. It would have been a "perfect crime." Aren't that all? I have lied about the reason for breaking up with someone to ease the blow on their feelings. I was brutally honest breaking up with another because she was a racist. I smoked marijuana when I was a teenager in the 1970's I now take my pot in chocolates. I hate my wife's cooking.
But now anytime you write something disjointed, pointless, and impossible to follow and someone complains about it you can just say "It's Kafkaesque!" and stomp off in a huff. Honestly though, you should have burned it unread.