Fiction Writers: How much non-fiction do you read?

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PivotalSyntax

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I find myself reading non-fiction, and that piques my interest in the subject I'm reading, which makes me want to explore the topic more, or it leads into another similar subject. I end up reading a billion non-fiction books, and then I realize, oh, maybe I should read some fiction. I'm interested in philosophy and science, so sometimes it's hard to balance non-fiction with fiction. The problem is that it takes a lot longer for me to read non-fiction than fiction, especially when it's rather challenging or deep.

How much non-fiction do you read? Do you think it helps your writing?
 

DeleyanLee

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I read about 70% non-fiction because it interests me. I especially read it when I'm between writing projects. When I'm actively writing, what little reading time I have, I find myself wanting to read more fiction than non.

Guess it's the way my brain likes to take a vacation.
 

Ineti

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I read a lot of non-fiction, mostly biographies and history from a variety of time periods. It definitely helps me with my writing. I get story ideas and world-building ideas from my non-fiction reading, and non-fic reading also broadens my horizons and teaches me about something new.
 

Bubastes

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I read a lot of non-fiction as well as fiction. I don't know whether it helps my writing because my non-fiction reading habits are all over the place. Right now, I'm reading non-fiction about local food, the credit crisis, and collegiate a cappella groups. :Wha: And I write women's fiction/romance.
 

Tasmin21

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I generally don't read non-fiction for pleasure, but I do read a TON of it for research purposes.
 

KTC

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i read what interests me. period.
 

Soccer Mom

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Lots of non-fic read here, both for research and pleasure. I'm obsessed with 19th century explorers and love reading their journals.
 

KTC

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Lots of non-fic read here, both for research and pleasure. I'm obsessed with 19th century explorers and love reading their journals.

i'm obsessed with buddha and paramahansa yogananda. and the 30s.
 

SirOtter

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I've never counted, but my guess is that at least half the 10,000 books in my house are non-fiction, either related to the day jobs She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed and I hold, or history books (my BA is in history), or a wide variety of reference works on almost any general topic imaginable, or something else I bought because it looked interesting.
 

CaroGirl

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I've always read a lot of biography, autobiography and memoir, and the occasional true-crime. That's the highest proportion of non-fiction that I read. I will also read non-fiction subjects that related to a current fiction project. And newspapers and magazines. I read my local paper daily and have a subscription to a couple of magazines.

I'd say the percent is probably about 10-20% non-fiction.
 

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Lately, I've read quite a lot of non-fiction about learning, bilingualism, language learning, learning disabilities, ... This field interests me and it even helps me with my article writing as I learn new facts, get new ideas and get a deeper knowledge of what I'm writing about. It doesn't affect my fiction writing, though.
 

KTC

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I've always read a lot of biography, autobiography and memoir, and the occasional true-crime. That's the highest proportion of non-fiction that I read. I will also read non-fiction subjects that related to a current fiction project. And newspapers and magazines. I read my local paper daily and have a subscription to a couple of magazines.

I'd say the percent is probably about 10-20% non-fiction.

one of the best 'novels' is non-fiction...In Cold Blood. (-;

K, the oxymoron
 

Ken

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... lots too, mainly bios. One reason for that is that the novels I'm interested in are almost always difficult to come by and never readily available at the library or bookstore, requiring me to order them. I'm less picky with nonfiction and often find good titles on the shelves.
 

Paul

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yes, the more i write fiction, there more i read non-fiction. i think non-fiction offers an example of structure to a writer without them prob realising it. or maybe it's just an emotional / subject matter/work, break
 

WendyNYC

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I generally don't read non-fiction for pleasure, but I do read a TON of it for research purposes.

Same here, but right now I'm (finally) reading OUTLIERS and Ooh! It's really interesting! Not sure I buy everything about it, but fascinating nonetheless.

Recommend.
 

JoNightshade

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I find myself reading more and more non-fiction as time goes on. Right now I'm probably 50-50. When I was 17, I probably hadn't read a single non-fiction book on my own. Then I read Boswell's Life of Johnson. That planted a seed which has been growing steadily ever since.

In school, though, nonfiction always seemed SO BORING. I think more of an effort needs to be made in introducing kids to gripping nonfic.
 

CheG

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Not enough!! I read whayever non-fic I need for a story but not much outside that. I am a massive consumer of documentaries though. Does that count?
 

cwfgal

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I read very little nonfiction in book form outside of what I read for novel research. But I read a lot of nonfiction in the form of newspapers, magazines, and ezines. If I had to guess at the division of my reading time, I'd say it's close to 50-50 fiction-nonfiction.

Beth
 

seun

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Not a great deal. I read autobiographies and historical stuff but that's about it. Should branch out really, but there's only so much time and always more violent horror to read. :evil
 

Mr Flibble

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Lots. I love history and different mythologies etc. My Dad was rather surprised when he asked me what I want for Christmas and I said 'A history of ancient China and the Bumper Book of Bravery' (which has some great potted stories in it, which I then read up more on the ones that interest me)

I'm currently reading about the Hellfire Club, and my oh my, do I get some story ideas...
 
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