Finding it hard to read whilst writing

Hi,
I've been an avid reader since I was 4 years old, but when I began writing, around 3 years ago, I couldn't get into reading either. I was also worried that if I read books, that it would influence my writing voice. I know that my writing voice is well established now and have recently got back into reading, for instance, I was sitting here and reading Madame Bovary last night. So it will come back to you.


Elodie

Stuff the book in the bathroom--and read it in there. That's assuming there's no internet connection and you don't bring in a laptop. :}

Seriously, to stop reading altogether is like denying yourself those little peeks into someone else's mind and world. It's part of feeding your muse, norishing that inspiration well, and simply taking a break.

I write about the period 1347 - 1350's so most of my reading is research. It has taken over my reading but I hope to return to normal. And I agree with Elodie, I'm scared I'll be influenced by other writers style and ideas. It's unreasonable but it is there.

It is hard to strike a balance. I find it difficult to read in restricted snippets of time. I usually keep going until I have to be somewhere else, I fall asleep, or I get to 'The End'. But I do think it helps to read, in and out of the genre/topic of your WIP, while you're working. It helps in pointers of what to do, it can highlight what not to do, and it can shake up a sticky problem or plot quicksand.

I still read during the first draft and editing stages of a WIP. When I read while I'm doing the normal edits and fixing the story, it's usually thumbing through several books by different authors to read a few paragraphs here and there to check for format. Like how long is a good amount of dialogue, which places to stick a short piece of description about setting, etc. But I pick books at random that I have already read, just so I kinda have an idea of the general story line. I'm always curious about how published authors craft scenes. When I'm reading just because I like the story, I don't notice how they craft scenes.

Mumut said:

I write about the period 1347 - 1350's so most of my reading is research. It has taken over my reading but I hope to return to normal. And I agree with Elodie, I'm scared I'll be influenced by other writers style and ideas. It's unreasonable but it is there.

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I always say that if you want to be a great writer, you must FIRST be a great reader.

I think being influenced by other author's styles is a GOOD thing. It adds a new flavor to your OWN style and might actually bring something to what you are writing that people can recognize and associate with when you are first getting started.

James81 said:

I always say that if you want to be a great writer, you must FIRST be a great reader.

I think being influenced by other author's styles is a GOOD thing. It adds a new flavor to your OWN style and might actually bring something to what you are writing that people can recognize and associate with when you are first getting started.

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Well, it can be a good thing. There are times however when it's not, when what you're possibly doing is not influence but more along the lines of outright mimicry.

Writing should be original. All of us carry little bits and flecks and pieces of those writers we admire, but the books that sell and stay with readers are those that are truly genuine.

But I don't espouse stopping reading altogether while you're writing. I think it's important to read daily -- however the writers with particularly aggressive styles are tricky. I'm thinking of people like Chabon or McCarthy or DeLillo or Faulkner -- when I read those authors when I'm writing, the finished product might as well be a carbon copy of the greats. That's never a good thing, and so I generally stay with the light stuff when I'm working. "Big" thrillers are good because they usually have a generic, everymannish style.

Another thing.

Whatever I do poorly (character building, scene transitions), I try to find in novels during writing months. In this case maybe I am aping, but it's important to me to see how others do it so that I can possibly implement it myself. I like Lee Child, for instance, so when I'm struggling with a description (Child is a very good describer of mundane stuff), I crack open a Child and get a feel for what he's doing. The trick there is catching the markings of Child in the revision stage and finding a way to bend that stuff into my own voice. I want the back of the book to say "Readers of Lee Child will enjoy," not, "Lee Child does this kind of thing so much better!"

I'm either completely immersed in reading, or completely immersed in writing. I plow through huge books in days and neglect my writing during that time, or I write nonstop for weeks without reading anything (well, not ANYTHING - just not the thick novels I usually read). This probably isn't the best way to go about things, but I'm only partway through my second novel, so I guess I just haven't figured out the balance yet.