The Importance of Reading

           When I was ten years old, my parents set a limit on how much money I could spend on books. They couldn’t understand why I wanted to spend every last cent I had on the newest Babysitter’s Club super special or Nancy Drew mystery. I craved books; I devoured whatever I could get my hands on.

            Pretty much every writing blog or book about writing I’ve ever read has had the same advice – if you want to be a writer, then 1. You have to write a lot, and 2. You have to read a lot. I write YA fantasy, so that’s primarily what I read. I try to keep up with the newest releases and what’s trending, but sometimes when I’m in the library I’ll just grab something random.

            A few months ago, I picked up a book with a title I thought sounded interesting (which shall remain nameless). It started out pretty slow, but I thought I’d still give it a chance.

            It just got worse.

            It became a joke between me and my husband – he’d ask what I was up to and I’d tell him, “Reading this terrible book.” And I’d tell him why I thought it was terrible – the clichés, the two-dimensional love interest, the heroine’s over-the-top reactions to the most mundane things – and we’d both have a good laugh. He couldn’t believe I was wasting my time reading it.  

            It took me awhile, but I finished the whole thing. Unfortunately, it never improved to the point where I could call it a decent book. But I learned a lot from reading it. Sometimes it’s more helpful to see examples of what not to do, instead of just being told, ‘make sure your characters behave consistently throughout your story,’ or 'you should mix action with dialogue.’ Seeing the author make those mistakes made me realize how jarring they are to a reader, and why I should never, ever make them. I can sit in a writing conference all day listening to someone lecture about what makes a character flat, but unless I experience a flat character, I’m personally not going to make that connection.

Read it all – the good, the bad, the ugly. Figure out what works and why. Do the same for what doesn’t work. I promise, you’re not wasting your time!