I'm not much of a reader, nor a writer really - mostly due to my limited vocabulary I'll always find what other people write much more intellectual than what I can do. I'm also not convinced I should spend my limited spare time each day reading novels, but I do plan to seek out some of the best short stories to hopefully learn from them, anything controversial, intense & dramatic is what I like & is what I hope to write. Overall I guess i'm looking to cheat by discovering interesting ways to write a story without having to read everything thats out there first. And I'm a Male in my 30's, living in Australia.
Welcome to the forum, Huck. I think you'll find a majority response that there are few paths one might think of as 'a cheat' that take one anywhere worth the while. For example, skipping the Forum Rules is not to be advised as we do have some particulars when posting in the Workshop. Wrey
If you don't enjoy reading, do you enjoy getting lost in a story but just not reading it? I'm wondering if you could explain a bit more.
The name is just a online nickname so feel free to use it in your stories... thanx for the heads up, if I stumble across the workshop section I'll check the rules before diving in... I only refer to cheating in regard to not having the patience to read many books, but i'll see how I do learning from lessons & good advice. I've been lost in a couple of books before but I think at the moment I want to be creative rather than reading other peoples long winded stories - maybe movies & technology has ruined me that my attention span has shrunk to 2 hour periods...
I recommend audio books if it's reading you currently find tedious. Not sure if Oz has the same library selection I have here in my library, but they are expensive to buy new. I began listening to books on long commutes, and driving back and forth to Oregon to see family. Something's causing a server error and I can't finish the post.
This was the rest: Get a few, I often hear the beginning and try another. Now I sometimes bring them in from the car because I can't wait to finish them.
I'll have a look online & see if there's a way to stream or download an audio book or two... though for writing I can't imagine doing anything longer than a short story lol
