i share others' disdain for 'speed-reading'... if reading for pleasure and/or for learning, speed is not something one should strive for... in fact, i can't think of a single good reason for wanting to be able to gobble down a 300-page book in a couple of hours... that would be like stuffing your face with a gourmet meal in seconds, as if you're in an eating contest... nothing of the various component parts would be 'tasted' or 'savored'... enjoyment being absent, one would be left with nothing but the useless claim of being faster than the rest of us, while we've just piddled along and enjoyed every bit of the ride...
The only time I “speed read” is at work. I work at an embassy and every morning my office gets hundreds of messages from agencies all over the world. Maybe 10% of them are actually pertinent to our job here. So I speed read them to determine which ones are pertinent for us in Cambodia. Then I print those out and read them at a much slower pace. I'll also speed read the news sometimes.
i share others' disdain for 'speed-reading'... if reading for pleasure and/or for learning, speed is not something one should strive for... in fact, i can't think of a single good reason for wanting to be able to gobble down a 300-page book in a couple of hours... It's not that I want to, as such, just that I (And i'm sure many others) do. There's nothing deliberate about it, it's simply my natural reading speed. nothing of the various component parts would be 'tasted' or 'savored'... enjoyment being absent, I adore reading, and get lots of enjoyment from it. Sometimes, I wish a book would last longer, save me going to the library so often! Other than that, I do savour books, and enjoy every word. one would be left with nothing but the useless claim of being faster than the rest of us, Not nothing, I'm left, like everyone else, with the satisfaction of having just read a good book (usually anyway!) Also, I don't really care if I read faster then most people I know, as you said, it's a useless fact. while we've just piddled along and enjoyed every bit of the ride I enjoy every single bit of the 'ride'.
when i read fast i tend to skim bits so the next time i go to read it i diont get whats going on, i think you should take it slow and steady. who cares wether you can read the half blood prince in a day or a week.
In a situation like that, I can see the application. When I was in the service, the soviet com traffic we transcribed was done in a kind of shorthand code. Russians speak rather quickly and we had to get down every bit. I guess this is more speed writing than speed reading, and perhaps I'm getting off track, but there were those of us who had to go through this rather intimidating amount of transcribed material to pick out the important bits. The method of writing we used which made more a pictogram of words made it easier to skim through and find those things that we needed. You might ask why the person transcribing didn't just call out when those bits came through. Not really possible once you were in the zone and transcribing at full tilt. You become a bit of a machine at that point. When it was time for your shift to end, your replacement would pull up a chair beside you and tune in to the same thing you were listening to and start to transcribe. They would be right next to you, but you wouldn't notice. Once the flight sergeant saw that the new person was in the zone, he/she would slowly turn down the volume on the first person so as not to startle them. That was your queue that it was time to go.
Speed reading is a valuable skill when your job or pleasure involves "screening" large volumes of information for key points. It is not intended for pleasure reading. Have you ever read a government document . . . perhaps case law, tax regulations or building codes? Nobody ever taught government employees how to write, so they tuck a few salient points into pages after page of nonsense. I speed read proposed legislation before voting on propositions, looking for inconsistencies that might reveal hidden agendas...can't trust politicians. I learned to speed read in high school when counselors thought I had a "reading disorder" because I did not finish many reading assignments. They forced me into this reading class (I resisted at first) where I increased both my reading speed and comprehension. Ironically, it did not improve my assignment completion rate at all. When my counselor lamented the failure of the speed reading course, I explained to her that I wasn't finishing the assigned books because they sucked! Many thanks to Whitman-Hanson High School for the great speed reading course. I still use those skills today. LOL
I agree with everything; speed reading is generally better if you want the idea of the text rather than a large amount of details. At the same time, I have a tendency to read very quickly, though I'm not really sure why. I always have. And the better the book, the quicker I read (and surprisingly, I have a relatively high comprehension rate as well). But I can't read slowly, which is frustrating. When I try to read slowly to 'savor the book' or whatever, I get distracted and forget what I was reading. Which sucks when you go to a book store to buy books, and put down the short books because you know they are going to be a waste of money because you'll finish them in a few hours at most. That's why I've recently taken to reading classics; I read those at a slower rate because the language and sentence structure makes it a bit harder to get through then contemporary novels.
I agree about reading for leisure, I don't think there's a point in rushing it. I tried doing some speed reading for some tests I have coming up...but sad to say, it doesn't really work. At least not for me. Slow and steady wins the race after all, but thanks for the advice anyway.
It's actually really hard for me to read this forum because on a personal level, my natural reading skills allows me to read a 300 page book in about two hours to three, depending on the size of the print. That *isn't* speed-reading for me. It's the speed I read where I still truly absorb all parts of the novel. Even my sister thinks I'm speed-reading, but I'm not. And it can be aggravating when people say that I need to slow down and enjoy the book, because I already *am.* I can finish an 1000-page novel in about 7-8 hours...it's not a 'speed' thing for me...it's just how I read. >< Although I did notice that someone mentioned a couple of techniques and I use one of those naturally--my eyes don't bounce on text, they slide. I still pronounce all the words in my head, though, but I think very quickly so it's easy for me to pronounce those words fully at that speed. I could probably learn to read faster, but I'm fairly comfortable at my level of reading. I have to deal with two kinds of people when I read all ready--those who think I'm insane because I read so fast and others who think I can't possibly be reading all those words in the amount of time it actually takes me--so I see no reason to increase my reading speed further. ~Lynn
It's my favourite novel- I thought it was beautiful. But still not an easy read. Now Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle? Reading fifty pages of either of them has taken me just about as long as The Plague.
I read at a pretty good speed but as said before on here it depends on what i am reading. If it is something that i am drawn into i can read it in a few hours, but if i just cant get into it, then it could take a month. For example, i read the book Fight Club in like six hours and i have been reading Eragon, which i like, for three weeks now. I just cant sit down and read alot of it before i get absorbed.
Everyone is taking this WAY out of context. You should learn to read faster WHILE maintaining your comprehension. I've found, actually, that the first one reads, the better he comprehends. To elaborate, I don't mean that the faster you try to read, the better you'll comprehend. I mean, the faster your base, regular speed of reading is, the more interesting books are because you comprehend them more. I don't think anyone EVER said ANYTHING about reading as fast as possible and not comprehending, except for sheer practice to get your base reading speed higher.
How do you comprehend a book more? Its kinda all or nothing...you either understand, or you don't. As as for reading faster allowing you to understand "more", I don't see how that equates at all.
When most people talk about reading comprehension in this context what they are referring to is how much of the story you actually remember right after you finish reading. If you read faster than your natural readign speed you will most likely have missed some of the little details you would have caught had you read at a normal pace.
I LOVE to read. i don't mean that lightly i L.O.V.E. Reading. In highschool person A would say hey do you know Obsidionvale? and the person B would be like, who? and person A would reply "you know that girl who sits on the bench in the morning and reads?" and person B would go "Oh! ya! i know who your talking about!" So yes i love reading and as some one who wants to become a writer i was always inspired by whatever i read and i would go off in my own head and imagine allllll sorts of possibilites. But now i think my reading is hurting my writing. When ever i read something my own inner stories take on the elements of the book im reading. My characters with start doing things and suddenly i realized that there not doing these things because thats the type of character they are they are doing it because of some other characters i've read about. it feels like im trying to find my story and i have to sift through everyone elses stories to get to it. so whats the only solution i can think of? stop reading. i hate that idea. i want to keep reading but if it keeps me from truely seeing my own story do i have any other choice? does anyone have any suggestions on how you can keep your story and other peoples stories separarted in you mind?
This is a well trod subject here at the forum. The answer depends on you. I too suffer from aping syndrome. When I read back over older things I have written, it is balefully obvious what I was reading at the time. My cure? When I am in a good streak of writing, put my reading away. Others will come into this thread and talk about finding your own voice and how this never happens to them because their inner writer's voice is so strong and hewn and perfected. Good for them. What works for me is to put me reading away for the time being. It will always be there when the muse stops feeding me.
I don't lol as I read my story elements of stories I have loved throughout my life from books and TV have creeped in. Whilst my world that I have created for novel is nothing like Eternia, the idea that it could be in the centre of the universe probably came from He-Man, fixed points are probably Dr Who, there are elements of my religious beliefs in it, the Wolf's personality is based on a dog I had lol I have a couple who have a boys school a bit like Jo March in Little Women etc It is entirely my own work but doubt I have a single unique idea
I don't see this as a bad thing. When you do find your story (which you surely will) after sifting through other's stories, your story will be all the more richer. I am not sure I am making any sense, so I'll stop here
This kind of thing happens to most writers, probably. The stories you're telling may have been told before, or very similar stories, anyway, but that's all right. What matters is what you bring to the stories - your own vision, your own style. You're an artist, and artists evolve creatively. Their own voices become stronger and stronger and more unique. When the Beatles started out, they were playing the same songs everybody else was: standard three-chord basic rock just like a thousand other bands. But they grew as songwriters and musicians and wound up with a body of work that is unique, and uniquely Beatles. They greatly advanced the art of rock songwriting and before long thousands of other bands were copying them. The same kind of thing happened to Bob Dylan: he started out as a pretty slavish Woody Guthrie imitator and wound up as possibly the most influential songwriter on Earth before the Sixties were over. You're still young, aren't you? If your stories are similar to others, don't worry. Keep working at it, and those elements that are yours and yours alone will emerge and come to the forefront. You will gain confidence and individuality. Just don't lose faith in yourself. So I say keep reading and don't worry about it.
Hi-de-hi. Here's a thing - everyone says that the best school of writing is to read other books, lots of books, good, bad, books about everything, personal preference be damned. BUT - and here's the 'but', whenever I sit down to read something, I think 'I should be writing now, how will I ever get something published if I waste my time reading....' <and so on> HOWEVER, as soon as I get the ol' pen out, I soon discover that I'm the literary equivalent to a lapcat with a laptop - completely ignorant and unprepared. 'I really ought to read more books if I'm going to play writer' And so the whole dreadful, soul-sucking cycle continues... Anyone relate to this? Any suggestions? Any publishers in the midsts of a psychotic episode willing to take me on on the strength of this one post alone? Over to you, Public!
You must let go of the idea that reading is not of worth. The few days that it takes to read a moderately sized novel is negligible in the grand scheme of things. That, and patience. You may not get published tomorrow or the next day.
It is accepted wisdom that to be a good writer, it is necessary to read a lot, and common sense dictates that it is true. Having said that, I am not a prolific reader, but I have written a well-received novel and am working on a second. Would my work have been improved had I been more of a reader? I guess I'll never know.
