Reading enhances writing skills.
Reading is an excellent way to hone your writing skills. How? When you read a book, you’re constantly judging it, aren’t you?
Does the story start off with a bang? Do the characters entice you into the story line without giving it a second thought? If not, you notice, don’t you?
Judge for yourself
How many pages of a book do you read before you decide it’s not something you want to pursue?
This lack of interest can be caused by a number of issues:
- Too much or too little description to set the tone and the stage
- Stilted or unrealistic dialogue
- Initial lack of information that means you confused
- Poor grammar, sentence structure, or formatting
These are just a few of the challenges that any writer faces when honing writing skills.
The more you read a variety of authors, the more you determine what captures your desire to read the book to the end. Is it the well-rounded characters? Effective dialogue that propels the story forward? Is it the balance of narrative and action and dialog?
Analysis is key to editing
By analyzing what it is in a book that encourages you to become one with that storyline, the more critical you tend to be with your own writing.
Your goal as a writer is to transport your readers into a different environment. It doesn’t matter if it’s fantasy, romance, paranormal, horror, or mainstream. The goal is to pull the reader away from their present time and place and into yours.
We all have our favorite authors. When was the last time you asked yourself why you prefer one author over another? What is it about that author that makes you smile in anticipation when you find out they have just released a new book?
This is not to imply that you copy another author’s style.
However, by factoring in the aspects of a favorite author’s skill at wordsmithing, pacing, foreshadowing, and creating surprising yet realistic twists and turns or suspense, you’ll find that you become more critical of your own written word. In this way, reading enhances writing skills.
If you want to improve your writing, read more. You’ll be amazed at the difference it can make.
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