Reader's Digest

Reader's Digest is a good start (I used to read it when I was much younger, in lieu of reading the real books), but I think that's no substitute for the real book, especially long fiction.

There are many other good sources of short stories but they tend to be genre specific (sci-fi, literary, etc.).

Elwyn said:

Could it safely be recommended that a person read the stories in Reader's Digest to accomplish this? It seems one could read a lot of different types of stories by different authors much quicker than an entire novel.

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Safely recommended? Absolutely not. The problem is, you're not reading "a lot of different types of stories" -- you're reading condensed versions of novels. That's writing with the writing taken out, similar to reading Cliffs Notes in lieu of a work itself. It doesn't even compare, and it's worse than useless for a writer seeking to learn from the work of other writers.

It's like a specialist in animal behaviour studying the packaged meat at the grocery store...

As for places to find works to read -- look for current anthologies in your chosen genre. Look for Year's Best collections. Read the magazines and the journals. And read outside your genre. The New Yorker is a pretty reliable source for good, mainstream/literary short fiction that can give a different perspective on genre writing.

But Reader's Digest? No. Not so much.

Read Reader's Digests for the jokes and anecdotes. Don't read it to get an idea of how to write unless your intention is to actually work for Reader's Digest condensing books.

As far as sourced for good short stories, I'm not up on that as much as I used to be. At one time Redbook, Playboy and Esquire were among the top fiction markets. There are tons of literary small press magazines.

Get a copy of Writer's Digest. It usually lists the top markets and will give you a good idea of what magazines publish short fiction.

Since this is in the 'novels' section, so I take it that you're trying to read short stories to help you write your novel?

Don't.

They're different animals. By all means, read and write short stories to improve your short story writing. But novels need a different approach. You have time and words to tell your story fully, with flowery descriptions and twisty plots. The danger is that if you try writing your novel like you write shorts, you'll run out of story at about the 25,000 word mark. Probably.

What books do you like to read? Read those, and then write them. Don't try to fulfil a perceived gap in the market. There's not many authors who can cross-genre successfully.

Elwyn said:

General consensus: You have to read to learn how to write; so says King and many others.

Could it safely be recommended that a person read the stories in Reader's Digest to accomplish this? It seems one could read a lot of different types of stories by different authors much quicker than an entire novel.

Can any of you recommend other sources of short stories of different genre that folk can learn (good writing) from?

Thanks!

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Elwyn,

It would seem that you're trying to take the "condensed course" in how to be a writer.

It won't work.

You need to read every day, and write every day.

Reader's Digest is good, but if it's the only thing you're reading, you're not reading enough. They only put out one digest-sized magazine a month. I can read the entire thing in a day or so, and then I have twenty-six to thirty more days for which I must find something to read.

Read Reader's Digest, by all means. Read other magazines. Read novels. Read non-fiction books on a variety of topics. Go to the library and find out what literary and fiction magazines they carry, in addition to the more commercial mags. Read cereal boxes and ads on the bus. Read the stuff posted in Share Your Work. Click on authors' sites, and read some of the stuff they've posted there.

Don't think that reading any one magazine, no matter how good, constitutes enough reading to give a really thorough education. Don't just read short stories or short non-fiction, because if you want to write longer ficiton, you need to learn about conventions and tools that novel writers use and short story writers don't.

To sum up: Read every day, and read a variety of materials. For writers, reading is just like eating...

Elwyn said:

General consensus: You have to read to learn how to write; so says King and many others.

Could it safely be recommended that a person read the stories in Reader's Digest to accomplish this? It seems one could read a lot of different types of stories by different authors much quicker than an entire novel.

Can any of you recommend other sources of short stories of different genre that folk can learn (good writing) from?

Thanks!

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No. In the first place, just about everything in RD is an article, not a short story. You can't learn to write short stories by reading artcles. In the second place, reading to learn means reading everything you can get your hands on. It means loving to read. It means reading novel after novel, short story after short story, magazine after magazine. You need to read very long novels, very short novel,s and all lengths between. You need to read newspapers, nonfiction books, and labels on soup cans, if nothing else is available. It means reading constantly, compusively, and as widely as possible.

Fast reading isn't the object, and only reading articles or condensed novels sure isn't the object. Reading to learn is one of those things that really shuld go unspoken. Either you love reading so much that you're already reading widely and compusively, and have been since you were a tyke, or it probably doen't matter. Reading is something you can't shortcut and can't fake.

Recommended sources for good writing? Go to your local library and start reading shelves of books. The library is full of collectiosn and anthologies, enough to keep you reading short stories for years. The library has thousands of novels, enough to keep you reading for a lifetime. The librray has more nonfiction that you can even put a dent in. There are volumes of great poetry, volumes of great essay, volumes of great plays, volumes of great philosophy, on and on.

Wander the stacks and grab every book that looks remotely readable. Even in this electronic age, the librray is still any writer's best friend.

You can't shortcut reading. Either reading is something you love to do, and do constantly, or you're in a world of trouble if you want to be a writer.

Agree with all above -- read, read, and read some more. It sounds like your question is 'can I read RD condensed versions of books' and get the same info as reading the actual novel (not reading the magazine articles or short stories), right? Not the same animal at all. I would have to say that reading the abridged versions of the novels is going to give you an idea of the story, but certainly isn't going to give you a feel for the style, pacing, or art in the real novel.

However, in trying to learn plot structures when I first started, I used summaries (gasp! Cliff Notes!) to help me outline the plot and see what the structure was of the story. Perhaps not the best idea (and I do indeed read the actual novels themselves!), but it was enlightening to be able to strip out plot so easily and pick out patterns in some very different types of novels.

Phouka said:

However, in trying to learn plot structures when I first started, I used summaries (gasp! Cliff Notes!) to help me outline the plot and see what the structure was of the story. Perhaps not the best idea (and I do indeed read the actual novels themselves!), but it was enlightening to be able to strip out plot so easily and pick out patterns in some very different types of novels.

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Not a bad idea. As long as you're also reading tons of books and stories, the one thing Cliff Notes are good for is getting an idea of what plot is all about. I've know several writers who did this, just as I've known a number of writers who used TV Guide to generate stories from the brief synopses they list.