Wide and Well

Wide & Well

How Reading Well & Widely Equates to Better Writing & Being 

 

 

Hey Ryan, why is it important for writers to also read?

Well, first off I think it's important to read even if you're just a regular ol' human being. Read widely and read well. If you find yourself sneakily thinking 'I've read everything' - that's just silly. Unless you're immortal (and I'm not necessarily saying you're not...), you probably haven't read EVERYTHING (yet). A good strategy for getting past readers-block is to look up who inspired your favorite authors and start there. 
Another maneuver is to head to your local bookstore... walk in and take that deep breath. Smell all those lovely books? Good. Relax, take a second or two and chill... then get excited. Let your inner compass guide you to your regular isle haunts... trace your fingers lovingly along the spines of all those books you love... and then blink. Rub your eyes and look around. There's a whole bunch of other books there, too! (I know I know, 'who put all these here??) Pick up at least one new book from a new author. 
Don't be snooty. Try something new.
Along these lines, you can also ask one of the book sellers which authors are their favorite and go from there.

My point is, you have to keep personally fresh and current with your reads. We people tend to find little corners of bookdom and burrow our own little den there. Doing your best to range beyond your literary foxhole will help grow you as a person, as well as expand your mind with new ideas and places. Whatever is in your mind and heart will eventually spill out onto your pages. So if you've been reading well and widely, that fresh stock of new ideas can both oil and fuel your write-abilty.

Examples!

Two examples of how reading well and widely can help you personally and as a writer for me begin with the Fossegrimmen. That's right, you heard me: Fossegrimmen. Now don't be fooled, brave reader - books are not the only thing you can read to garner ideas from. While recently browsing through one of my favorite time-killing sites, Imgur, I came across a post on Norse Mythology. If you've beta-read any of my upcoming novels or know me - then you'll already know just how much I adore northern European mythology. So it was a delight when I had begun reading the post and realized it was about creatures I had hitherto been unaware of. 
Idea central! I could hear my imagination and wonder whirring to life as I read article after article on old-world Norse creatures. One of these was the Fossegrimmen - which apparently even good 'ol Wikipedia didn't know about (which is saying something).

Here's the article on the Fossegrimmen:

Fossegrimmen

"Fossegrimmen, or just Grim (Foss is Norwegian for Waterfall) is a water-creature. He is a young, handsome man who sits naked under waterfalls. He plays the music of nature itself; the sound of the water, the wind in the trees, it all comes from his music. He is said to teach humans how to play if they secretly brought him a stolen piece of meat. Torgeir Augundsson (1801-1872), better known as Myllarguten, was a famous fiddle-player from Telemark, Norway who was so good it was rumored he had sold his soul in exchange of Fossegrimmen’s skills."

My other example is Neil Gaiman. More than half of you reading this are probably rolling your eyes; the rest just mentally said, "huh, who?" Neil Gaiman is an incredibly talented writer originally from England. He's written everything from graphic novels to movies to books (and probably more). After I discovered him (and realized just how many things of his I already loved without knowing), it was like opening up a whole new fantasy vein in a mine I was beginning to think I had exhausted.

When you keep reading, you're not only training and stretching your mind, you're helping grow yourself as a person. You can expose yourself to powerful, enchanting writers who can transform you with their own magical talent and creativity. Reading well and widely gets your own wonder whirring. It fuels you and oils you. You learn what good writing looks like by osmosis. You're adventuring into a vast realm of Imagination, where other sojourners have already gone before you. So pick up your laptops, pens and paper and prepare yourself: your Story is awaits.

- Ryan

Why I Write

I don't care if anyone doesn't read this.
Well, that's a bit of a lie - just a touch, though.
Why do I write? Why do I want to write?

Part of it comes from pride. The idea, thought, notion of being able to claim the title and be called a writer - or even better - an Author calls me. Beckons me. It's easy to want these things when they're already done, or when you say you're working on some creative project. But as for the actual doing, that's hard.

When I was little, the library in my elementary school was magic. I actually had trouble learning how to read well, and so libraries were a bit of a mystery for me back then. Oh sure, I loved being read to, or adventuring through the innumerable picture book tales... but I was embarrassed about not being able to read like everyone else. It frustrated me - and publicly shamed me in front of my other classmates and friends. I was in first and second grade, so it was kinda a big deal (and it still is, I think).

I owe an undying debt of gratitude to Mrs. Yorth, my second grade teacher, for taking the extra time, after school, to help me to learn how to read. My school, River Grove Elementary, also put me into a specialized reading class. Looking back on it all, I feel like I had my own Marvel origin story in that class... I don't really know what they did to me, but once I got out I was reading at a high school level - and soon after, at a college level.

I remember the day some time not long after I was out of that special class, I walked into the library. To this very day, I can't remember why I walked in there... because I'd usually pass it by... maybe it was a Scholastic book fair or something, and I was drawn in by the bright pictures... who knows... But I remember walking in to a place where only a second before had been like an empty room full of absolutely nothing... and then suddenly it had been transformed without flash or bang. I was now standing in a vast treasure trove - unexplored and all mine. I could look at endless row after endless row and know what I was looking at. I could read any book I choose (or not). I think this ability is lost on most people. The simple wonder - the marvel - of being able to do as you please, when you please... I also experienced this wonder with words, as I suffered from severe stuttering during that time in my life, too.

To get into the computer lab, full of all those glowing green-screen Macintosh computers, we had to stand in line along this library back row... which just happened to be where most of the fantasy was shelved. Since my last name begins with 'F' I was sort of jumbled somewhere in the middle of the line. So as we waited for the Powers-That-Were to do whatever it is that they did back in the early 90's, I would stare at the fantasy titles and wonder. It's funny. Usually I kind of don't like how I am generally shorter than other people, again thanks to my bout with childhood leukemia... the same disease which stunted my growth, had also been involved with scarring my vocal chords, as well as affecting my critical thinking... So when it comes to book shelves, the first thing I generally see is anything about midway up or slightly lower. I see the buried authors first. I remember seeing the Susan Cooper's (The Dark is Rising series); I saw the Peter S. Beagle's (The Last Unicorn); and the Patricia C Wrede's (The Dealing With Dragons series).

People will find your books. They will. My self-pride about writing and authorhood is just full of itself. The right people will find your work at the right time, and in the right place. You will probably never hear about it. You will most likely never know about it. But good stories have a curious way of transcending time and space. They slip out into the world and nestle into strange hands in unimaginable places. I should know - I was one of those readers. To this very day, there are still lost bookish treasures I'm still desperately hunting for - still gems which gleam in the darkness of obscurity, waiting once more to be reclaimed.

Good books are treasures. They are invitations sent out into the lost parts of the vast world. They are keys to secret kingdoms with hidden gates tucked away in unlikely places (like the threshold of an elementary school computer lab...).

So write on - who knows what will come of your next good book.

- Ryan