Must We Read to Write?

“Good readers make good leaders.”

 

“Reading is like breathing in, writing is like breathing out.”

~Pam Allyn, Author and literacy advocate

Reading is essential to being a writer. Regardless of level or number of published books, writing depends on reading. Not every reader becomes a writer, although you probably know it happens quite often. Do a search on fan fiction for an eye-opening experience about readers who write. Heck, reading may very well be the reason you became a writer. If you had to look back and trace your path to becoming a writer, what would the journey look like?

“Stepping Stones” is a journaling favorite of mine that I do with my college English students to help them “see” a concrete example of how they became writers or came to dislike writing. It’s a multi-step project that starts with answering some questions about their reading history followed by a hands-on poster and ending with writing an essay.

The majority of my Freshman Composition students raise their hands when I ask who doesn’t like to write. I always feel a bit sorry for the minority of souls brave enough to raise their pencils when I ask for a show of those who LIKE TO WRITE. Those same haters don’t like to read either.

Surprisingly, I encounter aspiring writers in my editing and book coaching business with similar sour attitudes toward reading. However, every student/client is able to answer the following five questions about their reading history. This is my secret, back door tactic to getting them to write a personal essay about their reading journey.

“My Reading Journey Essay”

1. Were you read to as a child? Where? By whom?
2. Do you remember the title of one book from grade school? Middle school? High school? What is it?
3. As a child, did you go to the library regularly? Why or why not? Who took you? What do you remember about going to the library? When was the last time you were in one?
4. If you have a good relationship with reading, can you point to a person, place, or thing that contributed to that?
5. If you have a not-so-good relationship with reading, can you point to a person, place, or thing that contributed to that?

With the answers to these questions, boom, students (and you) have the outline for an essay about your storied history with reading and maybe how that history impressed your current love/hate party with writing.

In the article “Reading: A Writer’s Best and Most Constant Muse,” agent and author Paula Munier says, “We writers have to stay where we are to write—and good reading is our gateway to good writing.” There are studies galore about the value of reading, and you probably know how it contributes to your writing. Even though the effects are sometimes subtle, reading in and out of your genre undoubtedly has an effect on your writing. Munier reminds us that writing requires us to be stationary but that reading is a way to move about in mind and soul. Of course, we must not forget to be physically active in between reading and writing sessions.

I will return to this topic in the future as it has many layers of discussion associated with it. Such as the pitfalls of reading for writers, how much or how little to read is good for a writer, and books about the topic of reading like a writer.

For now, try answering the five questions above and write your own essay or blog about how reading impresses your writing. I’d love to READ it!

Have any quick comments about how reading affects your writing?

I hope your WRITEDAY is fantastic.

Joy

Women with clean houses do not have finished books.

~Joy E. Held

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