Read What You Write

I have one hundred and twenty seven books on my Kindle. Twenty-nine of those are children’s books, specifically MG (that’s lit speak for Middle Grade, where the target audience is 10-14). I read them or reread them no matter where I am. Now, as a twenty-two year old woman, there are a lot of people who would tell me I’m immature for reading Into the Land of Unicorns with my glass of wine at the end of the day, but those people can suck eggs*. You can’t be a good writer without reading copious amounts of books, and you can’t bee a good MG, YA, Horror, SciFi, etc., writer without reading books in the genre you write in.

Not only is it one of the most enjoyable ways to improve your writing, it’s also critical to know what’s on the market these days. It can save you the heartache of literary agents telling you that your ‘cutting edge’ scifi idea has actually been done to death. It can also help you to write appropriately for a specific age group. Can you remember how old you were when you started seeing words like ‘incredulously’ and ‘sultry’ and ‘horrific’ and in what context they were in? Dude, I can barely remember what I had for breakfast this morning**. Reading books targeted at a younger audience helps you get a feel for how to write, and also how much narration you need; remember that kids have shorter attention spans.

But now we’ve come to a problem that has very little to do with the literary industry. It’s a social problem. There’s a taboo against reading certain books if you are a certain sort of person. There are men who want to write about impassioned love affairs and daring trysts, but wouldn’t be caught dead reading a romance novel. I get weird looks when I read a children’s book on the train. Many women feel like scifi is for men***, or at least the writing of it is. All of this is complete and utter bullshit, of course, but the breaking of taboos is easier said than done. No matter how much you disagree with the rules of society, the repercussions of breaking said rules can still sting. One of the best ways to shut up the naysayers is to be honest. Tell them that you’re reading a chapter book because you want to write one. Or, tell them the truth: that i’s none of their business what you read. That a man can love a romance novel, a woman can love scifi, and that an adult can love a children’s book. Should the situation be appropriate, you can also consider flipping them off. If you’re still shy, I’d invest in a Nook or Kindle. The cover of your book won’t be visible to anyone, and if a person asks what you’re reading, you can always lie.

All of this boils down to a simple point: You need to read what you write, so find a way to do it. I’m about to continue rereading Into the Land of Unicorns (by Bruce Coville. Read it.) which pairs very nicely with Merlot.

*Preferably rotten eggs

**I can, however, remember the first time I read the word Licentious, and will forever associate horny men with lice

***Mary Shelly, who wrote Frankenstein’s Monster and is widely credited as the inventor of the genre, would disagree