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Blog The Writing Process Can You Still Be a Good Writer if You Never Read?

Can You Still Be a Good Writer if You Never Read?

Kathy Edens

Kathy Edens

Copywriter, ghostwriter, and content strategy specialist

Published Mar 11, 2019

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How do you know to combine various ingredients to create a specific taste if you never followed other chefs’ recipes? How do you know how to build a safe, functional, and beautiful home if you never studied what’s worked and hasn’t worked in the past?

There’s a reason many occupations require apprentices. You can’t learn unless you study under a master craftsman. Mechanics, electricians, and plumbers learn how to tackle common issues every successful professional faces in their chosen careers.

How will you create good or great writing if you don’t study what readers consider good and bad writing? How can you create anything unique if you don’t already know what’s been done to date?

As you can see, there are strong reasons why good reading is essential. That said, if you spend your whole life reading, you’ll never be a great writer because you need time to write.

That’s the Catch-22.

Contents:
  1. You must balance both reading and writing
  2. There’s an exception to every rule
  3. Final thoughts

You must balance both reading and writing

You can’t be a great writer without analyzing why readers consider other books great. And the flip side of that coin is you can’t be a great writer if you don’t write, write, write, and write some more. Consider how plumbers and electricians spend on average two to five years as an apprentice. Apprentices study how masters perform, and they practice what they’ve learned on real projects.

As a writer, do you think you could achieve or eclipse a master writer’s efforts if you don’t study what he or she has done in the past? And as a writer, if you don’t practice your art every day, how will you possibly achieve or eclipse the best writers out there?

You need to find an equal balance between writing and reading every day. One feeds your soul while the other hones your craft. Even martial arts experts, athletes, and virtuoso musicians study the masters in their field and practice hours and hours a day. As a comparable artist, how can you expect to take shortcuts if the best of the best don’t?

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There’s an exception to every rule

Just like the fascinating English language we learn and study as writers, there is an exception to balancing writing and reading. Say, for example, you write screenplays. It might behoove you to read other successful screenplays to see how screenwriters concoct scenes. You also might be better off analyzing popular movies to determine a formula for what works and what doesn’t.

So, if you’re a screenwriter, you could seriously count binge-watching Netflix as part of your profession’s equilibrium. In essence, you’d be studying what worked for others and how you can incorporate those lessons into your own work. Much like aspiring authors study those who’ve succeeded and practice everything they learn, screenplay writers’ research is performed by watching both good and bad movies.

Some experts say you need not read to succeed as an author. In fact, they claim you’ll achieve a more unique voice if you don’t study and emulate others. One caveat they’re not taking into consideration is how to avoid writing what’s already been done. If you’ve never read Romeo and Juliet, how would you know that tale’s already been told?

In the same vein, if you’ve not read extensively in your genre, how will you know, as a writer, what will set you apart from all the rest? When you read others’ work, you can find the gap that needs filled. Authors who write the gap-fillers seem to succeed beyond their wildest dreams because readers love the new and unique.

Final thoughts

On which side of the scale do you fall? Do you believe writers need to read as much as they write or do you think a gifted storyteller need not pollute his mind with others’ thoughts?

It seems the big names in writing fall on one side or the other. Stephen King and J.K. Rowling are adamant you must read a lot to learn to write well, while on the other hand, Umberto Eco, who wrote the fantastic The Name of the Rose, said he told people, "You know, I don’t read, I write."

Or do you fall squarely in the middle? Do you think there needs to be a balance between reading and writing for an author to stretch his or her wings and leave the earth behind? Let us know in the comments.

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Kathy Edens

Kathy Edens

Copywriter, ghostwriter, and content strategy specialist

Kathy Edens is a blogger, a ghost writer, and content master who loves writing about anything and everything. Check out her books: The Novel-Writing Training Plan: 17 Steps to Get Your Ideas in Shape for the Marathon of Writing and Creating Legends: How to Craft Characters Readers Adore... or Despise.

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Great article! I'm willing to bet Mr. Eco has read more than most of us has or ever will. Odds are, what he really means is that he doesn't read... ANY MORE. While I have no allusions to being God's gift to the written word, I read much less now that I'm committed to writing. But I've read everything Stephen King has ever written. Same for Dean Koontz, Chuck Palahniuk, and myriad other authors. I immersed myself in my favorites, combing through them countless times. On later reads, I did it with a notepad, documenting what moved me on earlier reads. When I'm looking for a certain feel in a book, I'll read stories with a similar feel before and during the process. Just to get in the groove. Like listening to Led Zeppelin before a heavy metal performance. I read Poe before I wrote Dread. I read Koontz before writing Finding Nowhere, Chuck Palahniuk before Drawer #7. No one can write like anyone else. But what you read becomes a part of you, like nutrients in the food you eat. Your body processes all the broccoli and fish and whole grain bread—or candy and cake and pancakes and beer—and turns it into "The Brand New You." You are what you eat. Not broccoli or fish, not steaks or potatoes, but a combination of all the protein and carbs and fat and vitamins they provide. In the same way, you write what you read. Not any one author, but a combination of all the feel and style and color and flare they left behind in your soul.
I fall some where in the middle as I'm finding it difficult to read and write articles at the same time, for school and other interest. I have many books, but a lot of them I haven't cracked open due to my need to write all the time. This was an excellent article worth reading :) to understand that having an interest in writing doesn't mean you have to give up reading.
Of course you can learn by reading other people’s work. But you need to be true to yourself. There has to be a balance between their creativity and yours.
Everything I write is gained from all I've read, studied, and experienced, but the attitude is mine.
You need to read a lot to be a good writer. I can’t see someone just “figuring it out” as they go along. It doesn’t work that way.
I have to agree with you there! Great readers make great writers!
Well, i have never read a book, still i am a writer of more than 40 books, with include some audiobooks. Yes you can become a writer , even if you have never read a book
How interesting! You must have quite a story to tell. :)
I like reading other writers to study how they use impact verbs, pace their stories and foreshadow.
I do too! I feel like my writing improves as I learn more from how others write.

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