Tags
books, bookstores, JK Rowling, novels, publishing, reading, writing
Many authors have said that in order to write well, you must be well-read. As someone who spends far too much time sitting on the 405, I wonder what those writers were doing all day.
Still, the joy of becoming a writer is that you really have to involve yourself in all aspects of the industry if you want to take it seriously. Even as someone who was at one time on unemployment going “I should write a novel” with no knowledge of how the publishing industry works, I found myself suddenly engaging in an art form I had long forgotten.
I read a lot when I was younger. I was the nerd in class who loved and read To Kill a Mockingbird before it was ever assigned reading. Somewhere in high school and college, life and video games took over, and I went a long time without picking up many books. Now, sending out queries for my own novel, I’ve found a love of reading again thanks to involving myself in language.
We have a wonderful little bookstore in the San Fernando Valley called the Iliad Bookshop. It’s old and rustic, trading only used books and aided by two kittens, Zues and Apollo, watching over the shop. Since all of their inventory is really brought in by customers willing to sell their stock, the bookstore sometimes has its hot and cold spells. Lately, my luck’s been pretty good.
I managed to snag a copy of JK Rowling’s The Cuckoo’s Calling for all of $7.50 and fell in love. It reignited why I loved her so much growing up while also opening a new genre. It’s incredibly charming and, while I could go on for ages, it’d be easier to just read my Goodreads review. In any case, I immediately went out and picked up the second book, The Silkworm, and enjoyed it even more than the first. Today, I lunged on a copy of Eden Lapucki’s California, also for $7.50. I will report back on it upon completion.
The point is that, had I never started writing, I probably would never have spent so much money on books lately. That is not necessarily a bad thing! I do find, going through edits on The Sky Thief now that these recent purchases have had a positive effect on how I view my work. They are encouragement to get better.
So, if you want to be a good writer, it certainly does not hurt to be well-read. Some authors just make that an easier task than others.