Thanks for the replies! I may have a brain disorder which makes reading and retaining increasingly difficult as I get older(srs). I read more than my peers at an early age, but now I don't know more than a handful of authors. I do read, though very slowly
I was puzzled by the thread title and your OP. My question would have been "why", but reading through the thread you finally answered it. It sounds to me like, since you read more than your peers when you were younger, that you don't hate reading at all. It sounds like you hate reading with all the limitations now imposed on you. That is a far different statement, and I totally understand it. The older I get, the harder it is to do many things that once brought me joy. To the point where sometimes I ask myself why I'm still doing those things. The truth is I do still find joy, it's just harder to get to the joy through the task part.
- I recently finished reading one novel (which had a disappointing climax and ending, in my opinion) and a non-fiction book (which had a few good lessons buried under a mountain of fluff). I recently started another non-fiction book.
So two books read and one in process. Sounds like you are getting the reading bit done, albeit slower and with more difficulty than you might want.
Are the non-fiction books on writing? Game writing? Coding? Do they have something to do with the direction you want to go in writing, or is it some other type of non-fiction? Do you want to write fiction or non-fiction?
Someone up-thread mentioned audio books. You might find listening easier than reading. You will miss some beneficial things about writing from listening, but you will get the story building benefit. I'm betting you learned the beneficial parts needed from reading a book while you were still young enough to enjoy the reading.
I'm also working on a game; storytelling is indeed my thing.
Good luck on your game. Storytelling can be extremely important in games, depending on the type of game it is, and many of those that need good storytelling fall short of the goal, in my experience.
Also, how do you pitch screenplays and video game stories?
I suggest a different thread, perhaps in a different forum on AW. You will get better responses, I think, if you don't try to mix up your OP with this question.
Now we go down the rabbit hole:
But, yeah... the sex was reportedly a big draw. And a number of people only bought it to read because they'd heard it was poorly written, in a form of literary rubbernecking.
Don't lots of books have sex? I feel like a poorly written book which makes millions should be the greatest incentive for any aspiring writer.
Have you read it? If you haven't read it, how do you know that it's poorly-written? And why would a poorly-written book be an incentive to a writer?
Shoot Owl, since you're new I think you may have missed
the Newbie Guide, which is well worth reading in full, particularly the only rule: Respect your fellow writers.
That includes EL James, who is doing far better as a professional writer than any of us tapping away over here.
I agree the Newbie Guide is a must read for all AW members. Respect your fellow writer is a cardinal rule at AW.
That said, I think it is important when someone comments on another person's post, that we do not assign those words or thoughts to the person commenting. Shoot Owl never said the book was poorly written or that EL James was a crap writer.
It is alright to comment on a book, however, right? As long as we do not make it about the writer but about the specific problems in a book?
As far as me, I've read a lot of books that make me wonder how on earth they got published in the first place. As a writer, it kind of gives me hope that if something that bad can get published, perhaps a good story well told by me can get published too. I don't know for sure if that is what Shoot Owl meant, but that was how I took it.