Thursday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

THE THREE TYPES OF READER INSIDE EVERY WRITER

By: Benjamin Lancaster

My passion for writing began as a passion for reading. Authors were like superheroes to me, wielding the miraculous power to transport readers to other worlds.

As writers we have a unique relationship with the act of reading. It is the other half of the narrative partnership, without which we would be lonely madmen screaming into a void. In order to be good writers we have to consider the needs of our partner and understand their experience.

TO READ OR NOT TO READ

First, let’s examine whether it’s a good idea for a working writer to be reading other authors at all. William Faulkner believes it’s essential to a writer’s growth:

“Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it.”

But not everyone agrees. Novelist Chuck Wendig has a different take on the same metaphor.

“You don’t learn to write through reading any more than you learn carpentry by sitting on a chair. You learn to write by writing.”

Wendig warns against relying on the act of reading as a substitute for practicing writing, asserting the best way to become better at something is by doing it. Certainly, anyone who thinks they can become a great author through osmosis alone is fooling themselves.

A greater danger is that the other author’s voice might start to displace your own. If you aren’t careful you could start stealing their idioms, their sentence structures, and even the kinds of characters they create. Your writing could become a knock-off of someone else’s without you knowing it.

That being said, influence is an important part of any art form. If every musician who came after the Beatles refused to listen to them, music would not have evolved to where it is today.

As long as you’re mindful of the impact the other author may be having on you and strive to learn from them rather than mimicking them, influence can be a good thing. Recognizing what makes a piece of writing appealing, and incorporating those techniques into your own work, are important parts of developing your voice.

PUTTING ON THE RIGHT PAIR OF READING GLASSES

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Read the full article HERE!

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

• Want to Succeed in Self-Publishing? Watch the Money: Tips from an Indie Author http://ow.ly/OqvDW
• The Writer Diaries: Tuesday Topic: Querying Goofs and Fudges http://ow.ly/OqvLo
• 5 Ways Writers Can Steel Themselves Against Online Haters - She Writes http://ow.ly/Oqw6m
• 3 Ways to Design the Perfect Title | Writing Is Hard Work http://ow.ly/OqwjL
• Music In Writing: Part One – Pacing - Writers Write http://ow.ly/OqwtQ
• The 3 Types of Reader Inside Every Writer | Benjamin Lancaster - @thePenleak http://ow.ly/Oqxz1
• Identify Your Protagonist And Antagonist - Writers Write http://ow.ly/OqyqF
• Working My Way Toward  the Novel - Elizabeth Spann Craig http://ow.ly/OqyAE
• Author, Jody Hedlund: How to Keep Readers From Hating Your Characters http://ow.ly/OqyEQ
• How to Prevent Black Hat SEO Techniques Against Your Vulnerable Website : @ProBlogger http://ow.ly/OqyVb
• Can Using Editing Tools Improve Your Writing? by Corina Koch MacLeod and Carla Douglas — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/OqyZw
• Quit Being A Commodity: How To Get Visibility And Stand Out http://ow.ly/Oqz6h
• Writing Mentor - Books & Such Literary Management http://ow.ly/Oqzq3
• How to Write Blog Posts That Go Viral without Selling Out http://ow.ly/OqzCb
• Boost Your Creativity: 7 Ways to Be Insanely Creative on Demand | Write to Done http://ow.ly/OqzFK
• 7 Tips On Balancing Your Fame And Personal Life - Marketing Tips For Authors http://ow.ly/OqzXx
• WordPress Plugin Security Flaw - Update Your Plugins NOW - Author Media http://ow.ly/OqA4S
• Never Confuse the Key Event and the First Plot Point in Your Book Again! - Helping Writers Become Authors http://ow.ly/OqA98

Happy running and writing, Kathy