by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
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| MorgueFile: xenia |
I received an email a week ago from one of my blog readers.
She said that she repeatedly heard the advice that writers needed to read. But, she asked, what should writers read? What’s most helpful to a writer when they’re trying to start out? She said she’d been overwhelmed by the sheer number of books and felt she needed some direction—that sometimes she felt like the books she was picking didn’t really help her learn more of the craft.
It is overwhelming to find a book these days. The number of books in any genre is skyrocketing as writers write faster and publish books themselves.
And there are only so many hours in the day. It’s a good idea for most of us to have a targeted approach if we’re reading to learn more about our genre.
The first thing I’d do is narrow down what you’re most interested in writing. Most genres have subgenres. So, if you’re a fantasy or science fiction writer, are you interested in writing dystopian novels? Steampunk? Space Operas? Urban fantasy?
You could spend a lot of time reading the classics in your genre—but I wouldn’t spend all my time reading my genre’s classics. If you’re writing for a modern market, you’re going to want to see what’s selling now. It’s important to also see how the genre got from its past to its present, but I wouldn’t spend all my time doing that.
So….subgenres, modern books. The next thing I’d do is find the top writers of that genre…writers who have received critical acclaim. The quickest way to do that is to find the awards given for that genre and see who the most recent recipients are. For science fiction, you’re going to be looking at the Arthur C. Clarke award, the Hugo Award, among others.
For romance, you’ll focus primarily on the RITA awards. There’s also the RT Book Reviews awards and reader awards on sites like All About Romance.
For mystery, Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, and Left Coast are probably the biggest.
I could go on and on—but this post would too, so I’m stopping here. :) But there are tons of these awards….Google your genre+awards and see what comes up first (and, obviously, who’s sponsoring it and how prestigious it seems to be.)
Book bloggers are another great way of finding great books (especially the most recently published books that wouldn’t have gotten any awards yet.) This directory of book bloggers (Book Blogger Directory) is a good way to get started.
I request books I’m interested in from my library’s website, reserving them with my library card number. When I really like a book, I’ll frequently buy it and re-read it for years.
Now…that’s a great way to find books that work. You can read those books and note things like: Pace—How quickly is the story moving? What does the writer do to pick up or slow down the pace?
Nuts and Bolts/Structure—How does the book hook you at the start? Where is the inciting incident? Length of the chapters? POV? How are the transitions handled? How was the mood developed? Is there a theme to the book? (In mysteries—when is the body discovered? How many suspects are there? Each genre will have its own specific patterns to look for.)
Characters—How are they described? Developed? What motivates them? How are they used to create conflict? What makes the protagonist compelling? What’s the character arc?
Language—What literary elements are used and how effective are they?
You can learn a lot from a good book, but you can also learn a lot from a bad one—by noticing where it fails. You can see how it didn’t hit the mark with the elements I listed above. It also makes you feel a little more confident as a writer to read a really, really awful book.
How do you find good books in your genre? How do you make time to read them? What kinds of things are you looking at when you read a book critically?
I have to admit, I’m not a modern book reader nor do I read a book a week. I’d rather write than read. And I tend to feel more comfortable reading the classics. But, since I’ve started blogging I’ve read a lot of books from the bloggers I love. I’ve expanded and am glad.
T
Oh and I read a lot of short stories. :)
Elizabeth – I couldn’t agree more. The better-read one is in one’s genre the better writer one is. I think it’s important to read widely in one’s genre too. Even books one might not ordinarily be drawn to can be useful teaching tools for the craft. I’d say that award-winners can offer good models too for certain things. The key I think is to use one’s reading for guidance and enjoyment.
I read a lot of memoir, some other nonfiction, and novels of all kinds. I read to escape. I read for pleasure. If I have my author hat on, I do try to analyze what others writers do. And I have my favorite writing books, like Natalie Goldberg’s Writing down the Bones, and Mark David Gerson’s Voice of the Muse. Great post, Elizabeth.
Karen
I’ve read a lot of books in my genre, although recently I’ve expanded that to include other genres just for a well-rounded reading and writing experience. Sad to say some of the award winners I’ve not enjoyed, especially in science fiction.
And tell your husband to go vote for Rush! Yes, they have been shafted for years.
It’s great advice. I have a little bit of a hard time doing it because 1) I write in a couple different genres and 2) I really like to try to keep up with books friends write and there is only a little overlap there with my genres. But it is definitely important to try.
IMHO, you’ve hit it — espeically in looking for what is getting awards in your area today, and what the bookbloggers are buzzing about. That will help you with sales.
But to me, reading what you write is partly a matter of self-discovery, too. It may be eve better advice to write what you read.
So…
1.) Read what you like first. “The Best” may not relate to what you want to do. Try to identify genres, authors, dates, and if the books are current, identify the publishers of those books. (If they’re not current, use Google to find who is currently talking about it on blogs and such, and then see what else they read.)
Then start going after what’s current on the market:
2.) Research publishers — large and small — in market guides, then sample their books.
3.) Ask around to find what are the greatest classic titles in your genre. Even if nobody is publishing books like that today, you should be aware of the history of your genre.
4.) Always be on the look out for interesting things in other genres. (After all, you may find that you’re actually writing in a different genre than you think.)
And yeah, nobody can properly keep up with all they should read — not and have time to write too. (It can be useful to spend a year or so when you are starting out, mainly reading.)
IMHO, when there isn’t enough time in the day, set a reading time, and read as much as fits in that time. If you find yourself avoiding that time, then stop reading out of duty. Read what you LIKE in that time. Reading time is too important to waste on boredom.
This is great advice! I can’t imagine trying to write in a genre that I don’t LOVE to read.
I’ve read almost every ‘motivational’ and ‘success’ book on the market and probably almost every publishing and promoting book. Reading a lot more YA is what eventually convinced me I wouldn’t write any more books in that genre. Most YA books annoy me. I guess I wasn’t meant to return to my teens.
I read anything and everything (except horror; I’m a scaredy-cat!). Goodreads is a great place to discover new books. Asking your librarian or the employees at your favorite bookstore are terrific references, too!
I find time to read because I don’t watch TV. When everyone else is spending 2, 3, 4 hours in front of the television every night, I’m reading reading reading!!
I don’t really read as a writer, though, at least not consciously. I read for enjoyment; I just love love LOVE to read. Sometimes though, a book is so amazing and different that I sit up and take notice. I wonder how that author did what I’m reading. I’ll make a note so I can think about it later, then I get back to the joy of reading!
Alex–Wonder if they have awards for sub-genres of SF, like they do for mystery? Might get closer to finding what you like, if they do.
I’ll tell him! Poor Rush.
Teresa–I love the classics, too. :) Agatha Christie is a favorite of mine. I think reading my friends’ books and the book club I belong to both help me to expand my horizons.
I love short stories, too! And sometimes that’s all I have time to read at night. Can’t write one worth a flip, though–wish I could.
Margot–That’s a good tip and one that I’ve been reluctant to take. :) I’m only now branching out into reading thrillers. I’ve gotten to be such a scaredy-cat that I’ve laid off them for a long time. But you’re right–a lot to learn from them (especially pacing.)
Hart–I’ve found myself doing the same thing–reading/blurbing others’ genres. But that’s great! Helps to have a bunch of genres to draw from or be inspired by. I think reading your genre is MOST important when you’re starting out with it.
Karen–I haven’t read either of those–thanks for the recommendations!
Diane–I like nonfiction books, too. And good point…if your genre starts heading in a direction that you’re not interested in, it might be time to look at other genres! I know the paranormal element was creeping into mysteries for a while…which is great, but it’s just not what I write.
Laura–Librarians and Goodreads…great suggestions!
That’s me, too…I don’t watch TV besides the news…oh, and Masterpiece on Sundays. :)
I have to admit that your comment made me jealous!I have the hardest time now shutting off my brain when I’m reading so that I can just *enjoy* a book. I really, really miss that.
The Daring Novelist–Writing what you read is THE best and easiest approach…hands down. Thanks for mentioning that. If you’re a mystery reader, the site http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/ReadAlikes/index.html has a fantastic area where you can find authors and books similar to the ones you enjoy most.
Very good point about reading small publishers. I think you do get a sense, from reading small and mid-sized publishers, what some great writers are doing that maybe doesn’t exactly fit the big-house-publishing-mold.
You’ve nailed it on the time factor. Boy, where do the hours go?! I do read a ton of mysteries, but I find when I’m reading mysteries now that it’s mainly “work.” And I hate that. I just can’t turn my brain off. So I’ll read something completely different–like Keith Richards’ autobiography, “Life.” :) I wasn’t reading like a writer for THAT book!
Sandy–Thanks for coming by!
That’s good advice. If a writer doesn’t read and experience life, how would he/she write about it?
With regards to instructional books as to how to write, that’s about as crazy as the myriad books on scriptwriting. There’s a zillion of them!
By the way, came over from Alex Cavanaugh’s blog and am now following you. Cheers!
Thanks for another wonderful post Elizabeth!
Many times I’ll go to Amazon.com and look up a book I’ve read and liked. I’ll then look at what other books folks bought who bought that book. (I hope that makes some sense!) I’ve had a lot of luck with that method. Sometimes, though, I’ll ask one of the (very awesome!) librarians in my city for a recommendation. Often they’ll suggest something I wouldn’t have found any other way.
By the way, thanks so much for mentioning the directory of book bloggers. :-)
Cheers!
Elizabeth, great post. I’ve never understood people who want to be writers who say they hardly ever read books. I think for most writers, reading comes first–lots of reading–then the idea that, hey, maybe I can write, too. I can’t think of a better way to learn to write than to read what others have written, the good, the bad and the ugly. We can learn from it all.