Reading Classics = Negative Impact?

Did it harm yours?

I can understand people fearing a negative impact -- after all, authors such as Dickens relied heavily on coincidence, something we're warned against.

Sentences tended to ramble as opposed to today's more clipped prose. Telling-not-showing was okay.

I think one needs to keep in mind that books written way back then don't help you to write in the style of now, but all the same, I read them for fun. I certainly don't try to imitate Ye Olde Authors of Yesteryeare, though, because...well, let's just say stylistically, they make me tear my hair out.

There's a lot to be learned from Austen's subtlety or Dickens' characterisation, for instance.

This is a very bizarre question. My answer is no, I don't change my writing style to match the last book I read. Although I do tend to talk in rhyme for several hours after reading Dr Seuss.

I believe reading the classics is the best and smartest ting any writer can possibly do. If there's any negative impact at all, I've never seen it.

I suspect someone came up with that as an excuse not to read the classics.

I think the notion is odd.

I mean, if someone wants to emulate Henry James, go for it, but the chances of getting published are next to nothing.

I see students try to mimic writers in my class. The last guy had an obvious hard-on for Ayn Rand. Very painful. Almost as anti-awesome as the chick who insisted on writing like Tolkien.

I guess my conclusion is that if you let the classics dictate your voice, you're probably going to struggle. If you learn what to take from the classics, then it's all good. Take Henry James again (sorry, Henry). He does a lot of what would be considered unacceptable in today's market: overly-convenient plots, intrusion of authorial voice, long bouts of dialogue and exposition.

But, he had a distinct voice and some moves that people can learn from.

Jamesaritchie said:

I suspect someone came up with that as an excuse not to read the classics.

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I agree.

Just because you read something, doesn't mean you will or could write like that.

I think reading is always good. I do notice style more than I used to but I don't see that as a detriment.

CrastersBabies said:

I mean, if someone wants to emulate Henry James, go for it, but the chances of getting published are next to nothing.

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It's already been done: Alan Hollinghurst already tackled Henry James and won the Booker Prize for his efforts.

But generally, yes to everything you just said.

I think it's fine so long as you don't copy the style. You can use similar ideas, but not the style, because it was less heavily edited and some haven't aged well.

`I recommend them ...

Reading glasses have done wonders for me.

Definitely read them, find out why they are classics.

Or do like me, and read the real classics: the Latin and Greek ones.

gothicangel said:

Definitely read them, find out why they are classics.

Or do like me, and read the real classics: the Latin and Greek ones.

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Already have.

Sane_Man said:

I've read a few times that while reading classic literature can be helpful in some aspects it can also harm your writing when writing for a contemporary audience.

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I've noticed that after reading stories written in the 19th Century, I tend to use more complex constructions and extended descriptions, which have fallen out of fashion in today's literature. Generally, I fix that during editing.

gothicangel said:

Or do like me, and read the real classics: the Latin and Greek ones.

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Or the real real classics, in the original Sanskrit, Aramaic and Linear B.

tmesis said:

This is a very bizarre question. My answer is no, I don't change my writing style to match the last book I read.

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This. Otherwise reading any book would change my way of writing and I'd have to stick to reading just one author or my style would change over the course of the book.

I'd say, read everything you can get your hands on, but write with care.

I think that "writing like whoever you're reading right now" is a phase a lot of people go through. It's also a phase it's really important to work through and get past.

The wrong way to get through it, in my opinion, is to stop reading things you find compelling, whatever they might be. The right way to get through it, in my opinion, is to work on self-editing and developing your own "voice".

Speaking as someone who don't speak English, reading English classics has improved one's language. I think...

Seriously though, I don't think reading classics will hurt you in any way, unless that's all you read.

Hmm... does a wrench manufactured in 1960 turn a nut or a bolt any less than it did then? These classics endure for a reason. We don't have to copy their style to learn the lessons they can teach us as writers.

How many times has Romeo and Juliet been rewritten for modern times? I could go up and down the list of classics, but the horse would be dead long before I ever got really going.

In the end, it depends on what you want to learn from them (if you're reading as a writer seeking to learn, that is).

Don't you just love how often the answer is, "it depends"?

robjvargas said:

Don't you just love how often the answer is, "it depends"?

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That depends on what it depends on.

tmesis said:

It's already been done: Alan Hollinghurst already tackled Henry James and won the Booker Prize for his efforts.

But generally, yes to everything you just said.

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Really? I can see the stodgy old tenure track baby-boomers lining up to vote on that.

I know I can avoid Alan Hollinghurst for life now, though. So, thanks for the warning.

IceCreamEmpress said:

I think that "writing like whoever you're reading right now" is a phase a lot of people go through. It's also a phase it's really important to work through and get past.

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I'm actually in that phase. I tend to pick up writing styles like I pick up accents. Most of the time it doesn't hurt me, but just now, I'm writing MG. So I've put off reading a particular book I've been wanting to read until I get a solid voice established in my current WIP and feel like it's stable.

dangerousbill said:

Or the real real classics, in the original Sanskrit, Aramaic and Linear B.

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Okay, you win the "I'm more eccentric and neat" contest.

I can only read Latin and I certainly don't do it for fun or in my spare time. I like my brain cells.

I'm not sure there's much point in reading any book you hate, but teh word "classics" takes in a lot of territory. Classics come in all shapes and sizes, all manner of style and voice. Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, H. G. Wells, who, thanks to Warehouse 13, we now know was a woman, Jack London, on and on and on. Different styles, different voices, different everything. Not to mention all the classics in your chosen genre, which are a must read, unless you want to keep reinventing the wheel.

The trick is to read them by the bushel. Just reading two or three to say you've read some classics probably won't work very well. But read enough of them, and you won't copy any individual writer.

I do think classic writers remain whose style would still work today, with very little alteration. Maybe with none. And where alteration is necessary, I think just being who you are, a modern day writer exposed to modern day language, will take care of it. And classic writing with a modern touch can make for excellent writing.

Much of the writing in classic novels is beautiful, but it's the writer's take on story, character, the times, society, etc., that makes them wonderful for me.

I've found that my fiction voice doesn't really change much based on what I'm reading. I worry more about watching anime when I'm writing due to the horrendous dialogue. Charming when it's anime, not so much when it's anything else.

But an interesting side effect of reading the classics (or anything with a really distinct voice) is that my non-fiction writing, the stuff I do for my day job, does pick up the style of whatever I'm reading. It made for some very interesting web design articles when I was reading Pride & Prejudice...

I can use it to consciously change my writing style a bit, though. For example, when I'm writing steampunk, I'll read things that were written around 1900. I then actively use some of those conventions to improve the feel of the piece I'm writing. But I only pick and choose things that will still fit within a contemporary piece (and I find it very useful for writing dialogue). Again: conscious choice, not just letting it influence my style.