Reading More Books Didn’t Help My Writing
As someone who’s in the process of writing a book, I decided to read more books than usual. Anyone who knows me will know that I have always been an avid reader, but this time, I decided to read with a critical eye. I wanted to pick out what parts made the book flow and how I could take inspiration from that. What makes a book good? What makes a story evoke strong feelings in the reader? These were the questions I had going into this process.
Although my book is fiction, I read fiction and nonfiction books alike. A good fiction story feels real, and a well-written nonfiction book reads like an intriguing story.
So with that all in mind, I went through multiple different kinds of books a week for a couple of months. A Man Called Ove, I’m Glad My Mom Died, and No Exit were some, just to give you an idea of the different genres I read in. I know there’s a lot I can improve on in my writing, so I eagerly dove into different worlds to see everything through different eyes.
However, while I got a lot of enjoyment out of reading, I didn’t find that to translate well into my own writing. I found that my sources of inspiration stumped me when I sat down to write. It felt like my brain was filled with an overload of too many different things that I…
