Girl Reading a Book by Jean-Honore Fragonard
Digital and print-on-demand publishing has exponentially increased the number of people who can say, “I wrote a book,” and then point you to Amazon and other locations where it is for sale.
The indie publishing explosion of the past five to six years has been fascinating to watch – and shown how many talented writers there are that just needed a chance. The downside is there are a lot of books for sale that should never have been published. Either the idea didn’t rise to the level of being publishable – or the design and editorial development was so bad (or nonexistent) that a concept that could have been good to great has too many problems to be taken seriously.
In some cases, people have wanted to be an author without any real commitment to the craft. One of the jokes in the publishing industry is that more people want to write a book than read a book.
That raises a particular question in my mind: do you have to be a reader to be a writer? Is it possible? Are there those that can pull that off? Can you? In the following SlideShare presentation I raise five questions that question whether it is possible – but let you decide.
I really liked your presentation. The layout was smooth- easy to read. I know that I could never be a good writer without my past in reading. I do not read as much as I used to because I it’s difficult to find a good book these days.
When I was a child, I read multiple books a day. I read “Island of the Blue Dolphins” over seven times. “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” was another favorite of mine, read several times over. But, I also wrote almost non-stop. Yesterday, I walked to the shed in our backyard, and I found a big box full of my journals. I journaled every day since I was seven (though I quit, for the most part, during college). When I was 15, I started writing a novel, and I found half of a manuscript of that novel as well as another that I was working on.
So… you cannot simply read to be a good writer. I believe you must write, read, and experience life. Without all three of those aspects present, anything you write will fall flat.
But that’s just my opinion. 😉 Thanks for the article.
This article caught my eye because I have the “Girl Reading a Book” painting hanging on my wall. It was given to me before I had my children and I loved it then. The art work is especially dear to me now that I have a little girl who loves to read. Ever since my son was very small, he informed me the girl in the portrait is reading The Bible. The picture has become very special to me and I was surprised to see it next to your article!
I have always loved to read. Surely reading has impacted my writing. It seems like the more one reads, the more natural writing would come. However, I have not personally known enough writers to develop a strong opinion regarding this theory.
My husband and I have read numerous books to our children since they were in my womb. Now they read multitudes of books independently, together, and with us. Reading is one of their favorite pastimes. They already display a talent for writing at the ages of 9 and 11. The gift for writing well is in their nature, but the nurturing of language through reading certainly benefited them.
I believe reading can help reinforce skill in writing. If nothing else, it gives your mind a deeper pool of information and experiences to draw from.