If you want to be a writer, you need to read stuff. That’s just how it goes.
There’s no skirting around this. No exceptions.
If you want to write something that’s good, something that people will enjoy, then you have to read other stuff first. Otherwise, it’s like trying to make a movie without ever having seen one yourself.
It won’t be good. No offence, but it just won’t.
And when I say "read", I don’t mean just a couple of things. I mean stacks and stacks of stuff. Short stories, novels, plays, screenplays, articles, whatever else. Agents/publishers will ask what you can compare your work to. Something that’s already on the market.
If you say, ‘Nothing, it’s totally unique!’, then it’s obvious you’ve not done your research.
You’ll be the guy at a writing workshop who comes in with “a mind-blowing, raw take on youth that’s never been done before, seen through a lens of sex, drugs and violence.” Then you’ll pull out a watered-down Less Than Zero.
(If you’ve never been to a writing workshop, trust me, that happens a lot. Don’t be that guy.)
When I was in school, every novel they gave us was either a classic or one of those neo-Shakespeare type of things.
Not saying there’s anything wrong with those, but if you’re wanting to write – let’s say – crime books, it’s not really that inspiring. You end up confused, feeling that everything needs to be flowery or clever or poetic in some way.
I used to be like that as a kid.
When I thought of reading, I thought of the stuff teachers give us.
When I thought of reading, I thought it was boring.
You need to read the stuff that you’d want to write. Stuff that will progress you as a storyteller.
If I’d have read Fight Club or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas when I was younger, I might have taken interest in literature a lot sooner.
And it would have definitely honed my skills more before I studied writing at university. Given me ten years practice with relevant sources instead of five (or whatever it was by the time I realised reading was "cool"). I’d have known what type of writer I wanted to be, and exactly what I wanted to explore.
Don’t just read stuff you’re told to read. Read what you want to read, so then you can write what you want to write.
If you want to be a writer, you need to read stuff.
No exceptions.