You might be surprised to know how many times I ask myself, when I’m editing early drafts of books or books written by inexperienced (read “new”) writers, “Does this person read?” And I think you’d be surprised because I’m certain that in most cases, the answer is “Yes, I read. I read a lot!”
Writers need to read, and ideally, they should read a lot and from different genres. The more we read, the more we expose ourselves to different styles, different figures of speech, different ways of building a narrative, and different takes on perspective. Writers should be “forever” learners, and reading consistently is one way to continue learning.
If you’re a writer and you do read a lot, it’s possible I’m still asking myself that question I posed above as I’m working on your book. Why is that? Why isn’t your experience as a reader translating into your efforts to write?
One reason could be that you’re not reading as a writer. You’re reading for pleasure, or you’re reading to learn, but you’re not reading as a writer. You need to train yourself to do that. How, you ask?
