If you want to write a lot, you have to read a lot.
I remember going on an English course years ago, and after the first lecture, one of the girls in the class went to the tutor and said, “The thing is, I don’t really read books. Is that going to be a problem?”
It’s a problem.
Whenever you write anything, a lot of those words are the result of unconscious patterns. The way we phrase things and the vocabulary choices are largely out of our control. Sure, a small amount of our choices are conscious – the way we describe a chaacter in the intro to our book, or the way we describe the problem our reader is facing in copywriting, but most of our sentences are subconscious.
When you’ve written an 80,000 word book, you aren’t in control of everything. You direct the flow of words.
These words come from the back of your mind, and when it comes to the written word, they come from the books you’ve read.
In On Writing, Stephen King recommends you read for six hours a day. That’s a lot, and probably reflective of a multi-millionaire who can afford to do so, but you do need to read a huge amount.
Or, put simply the more you read, the better your writing.
Target
My target has always been one book a week. Sometimes it is less, sometimes it’s a lot more.
For instance, I read a lot of books in the winter, when there’s not a lot else to do. In the summer, I read less.
There’ll be periods where I’m not working so much when I can afford to read fiction or other not-so-relevant non-fiction for the sake of fun.
Then there’ll be times when my reading is solely confined to stuff that’s immediately relevant to what I’m working on.
But one book a week in general is an easy goal. An hour a day will get you there in all likelihood.
What To Read
If you want to write books, then you need to read books.
If you go on kboards or reddit or other writer congregations, you’ll see that a lot of people fall into the trap of considering reading blogs work. Not only is reading blogs not work, but it really doesn’t help you become better at writing books, because the language it different.
When you read books, you’re getting an understanding of pacing, structure and style.
If you want to learn about writing sales copy, then you have to read sales copy. Not people talking about sales copy on forums or wherever.
How To Read
Read with a pen and paper in hand.
One of the biggest time sucks I had to learn to avoid was relying on my brain to remember where I read something and who wrote it.
When you’re reading a book a week or more, you don’t want to have to go back for valuable information and read he whole thing again. Make notes. Even on fiction.
Even if you read a chapter in one go, then write a fifty word summary at the end of each chapter, it’ll pay off easily.
Something as simple as “Chapter One: Guy gets locked in basement. Thinks back to when he was a kid… lead character introduced plus backstory plus setting” adds up when you’ve done every chapter and you have the whole structure of the book notated.
It also means writing reviews or talking about the book is easier.
Closing Thoughts
We’ve all heard of beat sheets.
We all know what swipe files are.
We now all know how important reading is to building style.
Reading a book a week will mean you have all of the above to draw on. It’s also better for your brain. I’ve written before that writing is a mental sandbox where we can try out life’s possiblities with no fear. Reading is the same.
Your brain craves new experience, and it can be beneficial to your life outside of reading. That’s why it’s necessary.