McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Write What You Read?

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Velkyn_Faer:
A long time ago I came to realize that, due to the small bit of ADD that I have (this is not a joke, it is said in all seriousness.) I have a bit of trouble focusing... *starts to wander off* (sorry, couldn't resist.) ... on what I'm writing if I'm not reading the same thing.

Right now I can't start a new book I bought because it is a totally different from the fantasy story I'm writing. The only reason I get my first book finished is because I discovered the huge world of Forgotten Realms, and read all of those as I wrote my first book and got well into my second. Now, I'm reading Wheel of Time, so my current story is fantasy (different book now) and probably will stay that way until I finish the Wheel of Time series.

Does anyone else have this issue? I just can't seem to write Sci-fi when reading fantasy, or urban fantasy while reading mystery.

Velkyn

the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:

--- Quote from: Velkyn_Faer on February 27, 2007, 04:17:00 AM ---A long time ago I came to realize that, due to the small bit of ADD that I have (this is not a joke, it is said in all seriousness.) I have a bit of trouble focusing... *starts to wander off* (sorry, couldn't resist.) ... on what I'm writing if I'm not reading the same thing.

Does anyone else have this issue?

--- End quote ---

I kind of have the opposite; can't read anything too close to what I'm writing because it starts interfering.  Not that there seems to be that much close to what I am currently writing.  Not that it's not being difficult anyway, hoom hom.

But then, come to think of it, I'm mildly OCD, so that's kind of in the opposite direction anyway.

etoiline:
I've got a touch of ADD as well, but I've found that I swing between both of you. It's kind of obvious what I was reading when I wrote last year's NaNo, because it shows up in the story. So I try to stay away from the *sub-genre* that I'm writing, since just about everything I read is somewhere in the fantasy realm, and *everything that I write is; but I *have* to read, no matter what I'm writing. I go crazy if I can't read at least a few pages of a book each day. Yes, I am a book addict. But I'm working on addicting myself to writing ;)

~Cal

Josh:
Sure, what you read is going to affect what you write. It gets your mind in a certain mode and tends to make it what your thoughts revolve around for a while. I worry more about unconsciously, or consciously even, copying those books I'm reading, whether it's the author's style, or even plot scenes. Never want to do that, and while copying a style can be good for those still searching for their writing voice, I certainly want to be discovering my unique phrases, rather than hurrying a good joke or word twist toward clichedom by overusing it. I find that what I'm writing (which right now is a modern-day science fiction) hasn't been hampered by any of the books I've read in the past couple of months, which have included fantasy, science fiction, historical nonfiction, psychological social trends, thriller, and comedy. I do read mostly speculative fiction, but I do try to blend other genres in to give myself a broader taste and experience, and fortunately I don't feel that reading one type of book limits me to writing in that manner. Any reading serves as inspiration for whatever project I'm on.

Though I can understand how some people might have a problem with this. If there's anything similar to it that I've experienced, it's being caught up in a story that I'm writing, and then I read a book in the same genre and start seeing a lot of similarities between creatures, the magic, or the plot itself. It can be discouraging to discover that your idea isn't as fresh or unique to you as you thought. However, that can then serve as further inspiration to twist the story and world all the more and make it stand out from the other books that might deal with similar subject matter or storylines.

www.jrvogt.com

Nemo:
I agree that what you read tends to color what you write.  For me it is a problem simply because I have so many different interests that I normally read about six books at a time.  But I am trying to overcome it and get back into some real writing, not stuff that I would do for school.

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