I prefer reading fast, out of excitement and anticipation, because usually I can't wait to know what happens next in the book. If I want to learn and remember what happened, I have to read slowly and reread it a few times. That's more to do with my poor memory though.
I use speed reading for research. I can cover a lot of material that way, but when I find what I want, I go over it more slowly for detail. But when I'm reading fiction, I take my time. The enjoyment is in the details, and the appreciation of the craft.
My normal reading speed is close to 1000 wpm, so in all honesty, I rarely -- if ever -- have a need to speed read. Though I do have a habit of sometimes missing things here and there, and so often I might find myself re-reading the same passage once or twice (if I liked it) to be certain I missed nothing. But I don't really "read" anymore, per se -- I just let my eyes glide over the lines and paragraphs, pick out words and patterns and push them together into a meaningful whole. Trying to read something a bit thicker or more difficult -- such as, say, a rousing evening of Nietzsche -- and proposes a distinct challenge for me, as I suddenly find I can no longer "cheat" the reading process and instead must take it all in at a more digestible rate.
I second what Cogito said. I speed read for research to get more covered in a less amount of time, but when I'm reading fiction, I'll slow down and really absorb what I'm reading. If I particularly like a certain passage, I'll even read out loud, just because I can.
I feel incapable of reading slowly. If I think it's exciting, I'll finish most books in a day or two. I've tried reading aloud, but I alwasy stop paying attention when I do and have to reread it again...
Something in my big dumb head makes it impossible for me to speed read. I once read out of one of those books at the entrance of a Barnes & Noble about how to speed read. The one's that are always titled something like, "1001 Things to Know Before You Die." Anyway, it said instead of reading line by line, back up and read it paragraph by paragraph. The book said it would take a lot of practice, and I didn't practice it too much. I don't think I'd be able to even if I did, though.
I can speed read (more accurately described as academic skimming, lol), but if a fiction book lends itself to speed reading, then I just stop reading, as I find that's ends up being the biggest time saver.
What do we mean by speed reading, here? Are we talking about reading quickly and perhaps skipping stuff of not immediate interest, or about that rather particular technique of subconscious assimilation or whatever it is (that I guess we see Good Will Hunting engaged in)? The latter strikes me as a rather happy trick...but I imagine most have been talking about the former.
I find speed reading to be pointless. When I read a book I like reading slow and at my own pace. This is because when I take my time I more effectively absorb the plot and therefore enjoy the book more. It also lets you have more time to realize the moral value of the story if such a thing is present in the book. -Logan
I am a slow reader because the books I tend to favour place just as much importance on good prose as a compelling story. I want the author's artistry to lure me into the characters' world. I am speed reading my current book as it is absolute shash. I am only reading it for research purposes. It is a rock star diary / autobiography. The author cannot write for toffee and crowbars the word "dude" into every sentence. It is hard work.
i'm a fairly 'fast' reader [approx. 50 pph/250 wpm], but i can't see anyone enjoying what they read if doing so at the speeds one is supposed to attain with 'speed reading' [1,000wpm!]...
I know there was a recent post addressing the issues of reading while trying to write a novel, but I would like to know if there is a problem with reading while you are just building your writing skills? I am not working on a novel right now, however; I am writing short stories constantly just trying to become a better writer. Would reading books be bad while doing this or good?
Good, you can and will learn a lot about writing by reading frequently. I'm curious of how you're thinking though, why did you think it would be bad?
Depends, as long as one doesn't interfere with the other, it doesn't really matter does it. I'll read a book a day when I can. It never cause me a problem. Part of that maybe the subject matter, storyline or theme was so different.
I think it's neither good nor bad. If you want to read, nothing should stop you. Same with watching films; there's always something influencing you and if it's not what you read, it's what you watch, experience, over-hear, observe, etc.
If you're writing purely to improve your skills then I think that this is the time when reading other's work is the most influential. Also, I don't see how writing short stories will be useful practice if you intend to write novels once you're "a better writer" - they're two different crafts.
Read. Read. Read. The minor risk that you'll unconsciously imitate an author that you're reading is drastically outweighed by the value of reading. In fact, unconsciously imitating a bunch of different authors is probably good for your writing; it might pull you out of habits and drive you to try a variety of different techniques and styles, expanding your skills. So the only thing I might suggest would be to change authors every couple of books, rather than reading each author's body of work from beginning to end so that you're influenced only by that one author for months at a time. ChickenFreak
I don't really think it would be a bad idea, its just that I have heard from some that it might hurt my own "voice." It is hard though because I love to read!
Reading now will not hurt your voice any more than reading before in your life. For the entirety of your reading life you have collected an archive of what you like and what you don't, what you subconscious does is convert that into your own writing. Each time you read you assimilate(sorry just wanted to use that word) more information into your voice. Now you would think reading more would make your voice less yours but that is not true. It will tweak your voice into something more crafty but your overall style will stay the same. If you are really afraid of this though and still want to read, the best thing you can do is read a variety as to not become too similar to the inner workings of one type, genre, or style.
Right now I'm reading a novel for an experienced reader. Lots of big words, lots of boring sections, and you need a fine appreciation for literature to get through the 950 pages. My writing style, by design, can be read by somebody as young as 13. After putting this book down than going back to my work, I find it much easier to put my thoughts on paper. After reading at a high level, writing at a low level is a breeze. That's just what works for me.
Once I've structured my novel by creating an outline and beat sheet, I tend to write very fast, and raw, using my outline and beat sheet as my road map. The resulting manuscript is not what I would consider a first draft. It's really not much more than an expanded beat sheet, missing a lot of detail description. I just want to get the story down, with all the scenes intact, albeit in an abbreviated form. I then export an ePub file and and read my manuscript on my iPad. This gives me the experience of an ebook, and it's a different feeling than reading my manuscript. I noticed recently that when I read my work in manuscript form, I read as a writer, or more specifically, as an author. The ebook format allows me to try a new approach, and that is to read my work as a reader, one that didn't write what I'm reading. The ebook environment helps facilitate that. I try to step away from the authorship, and envision what's missing (a lot considering the raw form I'm reading). But, by reading from the viewpoint of a reader, I can focus on the areas that need to be fleshed out, expanded, and detailed. It takes a little discipline to get in the mindset of a reader, and ignore the fact that I wrote what I'm reading, but the ebook has helped me to read from that perspective. The end result has been a better view of the holes I need to fill, and the work required to bring the manuscript to a first draft.
As silly as it might sound, I find that reading the works of great authors of fiction is at least as difficult as, if not harder, than writing, but necessary in order to write fiction well. By reading, I refer to considering the author's choices in everything - from images to words to sentence structure - in addition to taking in the words printed on the page. By great authors of fiction, I refer to people such as Faulkner, Fitzgerald, or Hemmingway. However, I've recently discovered it's extremely difficult to "get much" out of the writing of these authors. Even in a discussion group with around ten other students and a teacher every class, I notice it's very hard. Take The Great Gatsby for example. I was nearly certain that Fitzgerald consciously chose to put in his descriptions of The Sound, the moonlight, T.J. Eckleburg and other things, but I could not find any solid relationships of those descriptions with other things mentioned. For example, one of the descriptions I remember very well was the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg being blue and peering from behind yellow spectacles. The eyes were on a billboard outside a man named Wilson's house. Later, Gatsby and his girlfriend, driving a yellow car, happen to run over Wilson's wife. There's a misunderstanding and Wilson thinks another man, Tom, who drives a blue car, ran her over. Unless I'm crazy, there would seem to be something fishy about the blue and yellow... (I've seem some really "subtle" things, such from another discussion group where we found that Faulkner went as far as to suggest his main characters were like monkeys by having them eat bananas in context with the rest of the book...which is why I'd think there's something suspicious about blue and yellow) The problem is that the discussions don't seem to get anywhere deeper than character development and I'm not sure if it's just I'm not seeing something obvious, or is there a more effective way to read? And I'm also curious how other people go about reading this type of fiction (I believe it is called "literary fiction"). Although this may seem like a reading question instead of a writing question, I feel that developing good reading skills is a direct factor in improving writing skills, but if you are a moderator and would like to delete this thread, feel free to.
"Literary Fiction" is really kind of a catch-all term that means a work of fiction that is not genre fiction. That is, it does not fall into one of the commonly recognized categories of Sci Fi, Romance, Mystery, Thriller, Fantasy, etc. Literary novels tend to concentrate more on character development, whereas genre fiction emphasizes plot more than character. (Although obviously both are important in both types.) It is possible to delve too deeply into the meaning of every word, and sometimes things are read into novels that the author did not always intend. Reading is subjective, too, so different people interpret things differently. Not every famous work is universally adored or even accepted as 'great' by all critics. Also, for almost every writing 'rule' there is some famous author who has broken it. So when you point out that the rule was broken by some famous author, the response is along the lines of "Oh well, yes. Author X can do that because he's Author X." There are so many different types of fiction out there, and it really kinds of depends on what type of fiction you want to write, to consider the question of how deeply you might want to analyze every nuance and technique of the novels that are out there. Of course, if what you really enjoy is delving deeply into literary classics, you might want to consider becoming an English Lit professor ;-) For me personally, when I read fiction, I most enjoy getting to know the characters, and if I'm really lucky I gain some sort of insight into the human psyche or into another culture or society. There are different schools of thought on what makes fiction 'good' or worthwhile. Some feel that it is for entertainment, with an emphasis on escapism. Others want to create/read a true work of art. How you feel about this issue is key to answering your question, which I believe is not really asking about how to 'read' a book as it is about how to 'analyze' a book. If you want post-reading analysis followed by re-reading, I think you need to seek out others with similar interests so you can flesh out and discuss these issues. What I have found in some ways more illuminating, with respect to writing fiction, are biographies of fiction-writers. You might enjoy the new one about David Foster Wallace that just came out.
I never thought anything of the blue and yellow cars. I still don't. I agree with Chicagoliz - don't over-analyze. Even if Fitzgerald intended the optomitrist's ad to be a linking device of some kind...so what? The focal point of the story is Gatsby, the character, and the vacuous life of the 20s. I think you may have missed the forest for the trees. It would be like reading "The Old Man and the Sea" and worrying about the fact that the character is named Santiago, which is also the name of the city that was the second to serve as the capital of the colony of Cuba, and wondering if Hemingway intended his story to be a commentary on the passing of the age of empires, rather than the story of a fisherman who never lost faith in himself.
Sometimes these little details have more to do with the author's own background and can make their way into the story subconsciously. Let's remember that in the early 20's, car color wasn't what it is today. Fitzgerald would have lived through the period where cars were seldom seen into the age where they were beginning to really catch on. Ford unleashed a wave of black cars unto the world. A yellow or a blue car would likely be quite striking. Perhaps, like purple cloth in the biblical era, he intended to convey the wealth of his characters. Maybe he wanted to contrast the fancy looking car with a primal act such as murder. Maybe he just pictured the two cars as being blue and yellow and that's how he wrote his story. In the end, it doesn't matter. Gatsby was one of three books that made me want to be a writer. It was one of three books that really inspired me in life. It did so without my ever having taken note of the color of the cars. Funny Ed should mention the optometrist (or "occulist" I believe was the term used in the book) ad. That, to me, was always miles more intriguing. I thought it was likely symbolic. Perhaps the eyes on the ad were meant to show us that the only witness to these sort of rich people follies were a set of unseeing eyes, alluding to the fact that in a world of people who struggle, the rich did all of this unnoticed by the masses. But again, it really doesn't matter. Gatsby didn't inspire me because of the occulist eyes or the yellow car. It inspired me because of Gatsby. I believe in reading very much. But beware of tunnel vision.
