Absolutely. I write a lot, and I realized that without being a voracious reader since I was a kid, I would be a Neanderthal.
To become a better writer, read as much as you can
211–220 of 280 posts
Re: To become a better writer, read as much as you can
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
> language and style of speaking sentences Nabokov? His protagonists have very special styles of speaking. I'd recommend "Pale Fire" (which is also very funny and has an interesting hypertext-like structure) as a starter.
Nabokov is even more impressive once you realise that English wasn't even his first language!
It more or less was. He grew up in an extremely cosmopolitan household and was trilingual.
Re: To become a better writer, read as much as you can
#213> Why be a writer if you don’t love reading? Why devote your intellectual and emotional energy to creating a book, when it’s a form you’re not invested in? Why write, when you aren’t steeped in wonder of storytelling? This is the key point, I think. I've seen the same as the author: people who want to be writers but rarely read books. And I don't get it. I recently finished a novel (now shopping around for agents, wh…
I hope you publish, and I hope you tell that story. And I hope people read it. There's a sobering article recently published in The Atlantic[1][2] about the end of reading and how we're in a postliterate age. We're reading more words than ever, but instead of coming from books, they're coming from digital media. We're losing that same muscle for long-form reading and deep focus that the original author talks about be…
As someone who also dabbles in writing fiction (unpublished) I'm less pessimistic. I keep hearing less people read and the end of long form writing is near. To me this signals a great time to write and publish because the smaller the niche, the happier the people who get quality stuff in it.
The "book bubble" of avid readers is the most anti-AI community I am a member of which is a very interesting perspective (I do research in AI as my main job). I don't touch AI for writing/editing etc. because I see it as a creative endeavor and enjoy spending time with a blank piece of paper or an empty latex file :D
Re: To become a better writer, read as much as you can
#214> Why be a writer if you don’t love reading? Why devote your intellectual and emotional energy to creating a book, when it’s a form you’re not invested in? Why write, when you aren’t steeped in wonder of storytelling? This is the key point, I think. I've seen the same as the author: people who want to be writers but rarely read books. And I don't get it. I recently finished a novel (now shopping around for agents, wh…
As the old quip goes: people don’t want to be writers, they want to have published a book. You can turn this around as well: people don’t want to read, they want to be well read. The difference is “effort and process” versus a status. People want the label, but don’t want to do the work to get there.
I love reading, do it a lot of and per my Goodreads I’m “well read”. I’m less convinced how much I’ve learned from all the reading that would make me a better writer though. I definitely fell into the trap of wanting to have written a book myself. I grew out of that but still felt/feel like I want to write. The issue that remains is that I’m just not sure I have anything to say!
Re: To become a better writer, read as much as you can
#215Just like how you need two legs to walk, you should regularly switch between reading and writing.
You can't learn what to look for in the writing of others until you write something yourself. And you can't find your own voice until you've tried imitating someone else's style.
Re: To become a better writer, read as much as you can
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian especially. His style won't be to everyone's tastes, but you certainly can't describe it as bland.
I second this, CM is an incredible storyteller. Blood Meridian is one of my favorite novels & made me want to write.
> Blood Meridian is one of my favorite novels
I cannot fathom how people enjoy that book. I appreciate the writing (and love other CM books) but Blood Meridian felt like a gratuitous ordeal to me. I tried watching lit professors lecture about it too but I still just don’t get it.
Re: To become a better writer, read as much as you can
#217One interesting thing I've just come to notice is that ever since I started using AI agents, ive not had a single moment of 'flow-state' whereas I used to semi-frequently have such experiences prior.
I feel like some parallels can be drawn between the reading and coding brain in this regard.
Re: To become a better writer, read as much as you can
#218I started a podcast recently and two things are VERY in line with this post: 1. If you listen to tons of podcasts, you slowly internalize what is a good vs bad interview. e.g. you learn to automatically ask leading questions, direct the guest in an arc (if that's what you want to do etc). One of my guests was a professional sports journalist and he mentioned "How did you learn to interview people so well??" 2. I aske…
Speaking of gear, there are also a lot of people who will go out and spend $440 on a SM-7b, and then use it to record somebody (1) not saying interesting (2) who doesn’t have good speaking skills (3) in a room which doesn’t sound good (4) with a preamp that doesn’t have enough clean gain to record a low-output mic like the SM-7b.
It’s not like gear isn’t important but the SM-7b has become such an object of hate for me because of what it represents for podcasters. The “you will very quickly learn what works and doesn’t” is a much better starting point. (And yes, the SM-7b is great, blah blah blah. $440 is still a lot of money for most people, and it’s not $440 of ‘great’ for somebody who is starting out.)
Re: To become a better writer, read as much as you can
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are quoting him out of context. That was directed at wannabe-writers who don't make time to read . Which is completely fucking batshit crazy. If anyone deserves some f-bombs, it's them. Additionally, the very next sentence is "Joking. I would never say that. But I certainly fucking think it."
> If anyone deserves some f-bombs, it's them. Why? Because they do a thing differently from you? I don't see any harm in that, unless they're an obvious grifter. I certainly do see harm in fucking gatekeepers telling other people how to do X, and Y. Why the fuck do you care if they don't read? Because it ruins your holy image of the craft? Let them do their thing and stay out of the way, if reading is truly necessary…
uh no...it's not gatekeeping... because it's an article of advice from a professional to students.
That's called teaching. Having people who know how to do something well tell you how to get better at – even by doing things that are uncomfortable and not what you prefer - is how you learn a god-damned craft.
Re: To become a better writer, read as much as you can
#220One interesting thing I've just come to notice is that ever since I started using AI agents, ive not had a single moment of 'flow-state' whereas I used to semi-frequently have such experiences prior. I feel like some parallels can be drawn between the reading and coding brain in this regard.
I take breaks from AI agents and write a percentage of commits purely by hand, partly to keep experiencing the flow state, partly because I think I need the expertise.