How Much Should Writers READ?
When it comes to writing professionally, there are two bits of advice that are universal:
- You need to read a lot
- You need to write a lot
Yesterday I wrote about how many words writers should aim to write in an average day. In today’s article we’ll deal with the other side of the coin. How much should writers aim to read?
This won’t centre around a given “average day” because the answer is a bit more complicated than that.
Why Are You Reading?
Writing is a profession like any other. Don’t let the artsy-creatives tell you about “soul” and “feeling the work” because those are stupid things that’ll keep your word count down. Don’t let STEM graduates tell you that writing is a hobby and creative stuff isn’t worth any money. They’re as delusional as the artsy types.
Why do I mention that? Well, like any other profession, you have to undertake research requirements. For a writer, this means reading a lot.
Too many writers think that they can sit back in their favourite armchair and read their favourite books… and consider this “hard work.”
It’s not.
The hard work of writing is writing and you should always make that the focus of your day.
Reading is important to a professional writer in the same way that it’s important to a professional doctor. When you’re going in for heart surgery, you’re hopefully confident that the guy who’s working on you studied hard at school. You also hope that he’s up to date with the latest developments. You probably don’t care whether he reads the local newspaper with his morning coffee.
The same is true of writers.
You don’t get magical powers if you’re a culture vulture. (Hideously, one of my university lecturers told me that modern publishing was all about “being a culture vulture.” I’ve never forgotten it.)
You don’t get brownie points for reading all of the bestseller lists and it won’t translate to better books or more sales automatically. The same is true if you’re one of my readers who is into the internet marketing side of things – you’re not going to be a millionaire based on how many blogs you read.
Like doctors, you’re reading for utility. Everything you read should be targeted towards making you better at writing. *
What Are You Reading?
There’s no point in reading tons of books and gaining little benefit from it.
I talked a few weeks back about an exercise for being a better writer. This is generally the way you want to approach your reading.
(This is true whether you’re writing fiction, copywriting or whatever else.)
Essentially, here’s what you need to do:
- Read widely in your genre until you understand the underlying structure of the genre/form
- Pick specific bits that you need to learn about (Writing about horses, for instance) and find examples of them. Ruthlessly pull them apart and write until you can assimilate the skill needed to replicate it
- As you expand, repeat the process. Read widely, then specifically.
At every point, you should take notes. This isn’t a fun activity or a lazy one – you’re working when you read.
The nature of your notes will change and it’s not a specific thing. You’re looking for the structure, the language and then specific aspects. Allow them to bounce around in your mind and write as you go along. Once you have a basic understanding of these things, then your subconscious will notify you of what’s relevant or not.
Remember, this is only a minority of your time. You need to write more than you read and assimilate everything you learn. If you don’t, it’s wasted time.
Final Thoughts
*Now, I’m not saying that you can’t read for enjoyment. It’s an enjoyable activity and you’ll learn a lot about the world by reading good books. That said, if you want to be a professional writer, you have to act like one. I’m sure athletes love eating cake, but when they’re competing, eating isn’t about the enjoyment… it’s about the performance.
As a writer, your performance is marked by the material you read and how you read it. Have fun and enjoy the process, but treat the material you read and the way you read it like an athlete eats cake.