Many writers say it: "I don't read when I'm
writing". They think it will contaminate their voice, that whatever style
they're reading will somehow seep into their work and it really won't be
theirs. That's only a problem if you're writing a 21st-century urban romance
and last night's reading of Pride and Prejudice has you making your characters
sound like they're in an English drawing room and not a Miami nightclub!
In fact, if you're not reading while you're working on your
book, you're missing out on the many ways you can learn from authors past and
present who have dealt with the very same issues you're struggling with. I once
heard that if a writer is stuck or has writer's block, it's because he or she
hasn't done their homework, and for a writer, homework is reading. But how do
you know what to read and how to make use of it? Here are 4 easy tips to
getting the most out of your reading.
Identify the Strategies/Techniques You're Using in Your Book
Take out your book's outline (or notes or whatever pages you
have written so far) and highlight the writer's tools you are using. Now you
may not see them as tools. For instance, your character is sitting in a car and
she's having a memory of a car accident that happened when she was little and
you tell the story of the accident. That's a flashback. Maybe you used internal
dialogue, maybe you're telling your novel in the 2nd person voice or your whole
book is historical fiction so getting the setting right is crucial. Once you've
identified your main tools, ask yourself, "What tool do I want help with
the most?" Then...
Find Books in Which the Author Has Used a Similar Technique
Sometimes the right book will come to you automatically.
Writing in the 2nd person voice? Then Jay Mcinerney's Bright Lights, Big City
comes to mind. It's a great example of a strategy that's very tricky to pull
off. I would definitely want to read it if I wanted to be as effective as he
was with his novel. Great examples of historical fiction include The Known
World by Edward P. Jones and anything by Toni Morrison. When I was learning how
to use flashbacks effectively, I re-read Pat Conroy's The Prince of Tides and
The Mourner's Bench by Susan Dodd. Ideally, as a writer you are reading
extensively and the books that come to mind for you will be ones you have
already enjoyed and know well. If you need a few ideas you can try referring to
a compilation such as Book Lust by Nancy Pearl where you can find books listed
and discussed by their characteristics.
What's the Best Way for You to Learn from What You're Reading?
Ask yourself this question to help you develop a way to work
with what you're learning from the book you're reading. It may be a matter of
taking a few notes on the types of words the author uses or the kinds of
details he or she uses to create an effective scene setter. Or it could be more
complicated. When I was learning about flashbacks, I was trying to figure out
how long you could keep the reader in the past without losing the tension in
the present-day storyline. So, I took The Prince of Tides and did a rough
outline of it, counting out how many chapters and how many pages Mr. Conroy
devoted to his past and present-day storylines. I also noted what the reader
learned or what was revealed in each chapter so I could get a sense of how he
paced the book. That's just what made sense to me--to create a visual that
could help me grasp the whole book. What would help you best understand what a
writer has done? This is important because it will help you with the last
tip...
Comments