Mindy's Movie Reviews

A blog that went from discussing about the writing life to reviews of movies

Do You Really Learn From Reading?

As a writer, I am constantly told to read. Read this. Read that. You will learn so much as a writer if you read, read and read some more.

But do we? Do we really learn from reading so much?

For me personally I don't learn anything from reading. Then again I don't like to read. Yes I am serious. I have to force myself to read any sort of novel with great dismay. Oh and don't get me started on why. Okay get me started.

Reason being? Simply because I am picky. I want something to grab me by the neck and hold on tight until I read the final word. So far I have yet to find a book that intrigues me in that way. My favourite book Intensity by Dean Koontz almost did that for me. Almost.

So how do I learn about honing my writing craft if I don't read much?

Those who know me, know I am a movie junkie. Those are my books that I read and it shows in my writing. I tend to find dialogue easier to write than description. I could and have tried before to write an entire story with nothing but dialogue. (It's a great prompt to try if you need to work on your dialogue).

Question for you: Do you learn anything from reading?

3 comments:

Erin January 10, 2011 at 10:52 PM  

Interesting post!

Things I've learned from reading:

Punctuation! POV, tense, how to use dialogue correctly, etc.

Personally, my writing would be a mess without reading! Then again, maybe I'm just slow...

Anonymous January 11, 2011 at 12:40 PM  

Do you write scripts as well? If not, that may appeal to your writing more?

Mindy January 12, 2011 at 12:17 PM  

Actually yes I do write scripts. Writing them are easier for me to write than novels. I might include some posts about it this year. I know there is a very fun event in April called Script Frenzy that is awesome fyi.