Can I be a good writer without reading a lot?

You can be a good storyteller.

I'm like you. I rarely read for fun, but watched a LOT of movies and played a lot of video games (The first Half-Life game and the first Starcraft game means more to me than any novel I have ever read).

I also imagined that I wanted to write books. But what I really wanted to do was to tell stories and to be creative.

I realized that since I never read fiction (but I do read a LOT for non-fiction), I probably shouldn't try to write it. Why write something I would never bother to read?

Try writing scripts instead. If you enjoy movies and games, try to write in the format you enjoy.

posted about 10 years ago

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erikric‭

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This seems like a very weird question to me. Why are you writing, exactly, if you don't like books? Do you think it's going to be a quick path to fame in lieu of an actual career? Because that's the feeling I'm getting from your question.

On the other hand, if you've come to like books as an adult but you don't feel like you have the time to read, just remember that practice is the key to everything. Write a lot, ask for constructive criticism and input, and you will get better.

You can't get better if you have no compass to guide you, be it a mentor, online community like this or reading at large.

posted about 10 years ago

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chif-ii‭

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I'll throw in my $0.02. I agree with many of the other answers saying that you don't have to necessarily read a lot to be a great author. I can't cite any authors that didn't read very much, but perhaps there are some that didn't.

Reading definitely will help your process. It doesn't really matter what you read, but you should read and communicate with other people as often as possible in order to hone your skills. If you are in school, try taking some writing intensive courses. It might be very difficult at first, but eventually you would be able to write a 20 or 30 page term paper with ease.

Also playing video games often may be a detriment to your communication skills. As a former video game addict, I could tell that it had a negative impact on me over time. The skills that make you a good gamer are the same skills that make you a poor writer. Games teach you to be impatient, and to make snap decisions. Writing on the other hand, is a much more patient process. It is better to slow down and think about what you are writing instead of just trying to force a bunch of words on paper. I'm not saying that you should quit gaming altogether, but it would be a good idea to limit the amount of time spent playing games to a few hours a week. Instead, you could be doing more things socially, or reading, or doing something completely different.

posted about 10 years ago

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Jason Hutchinson‭

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Not really, no. That would be like trying to learn a foreign language without ever hearing it spoken or seeing it written.

You can certainly write, inasmuch as you can write words down on a page. But that's not "becoming a good writer." if you have no idea what other books look like, then you'll basically be trying to invent the modern novel from scratch.

You won't have any sense of what works and what to avoid; what can be powerful and what's already been done to death; what expectations readers will demand you meet and what surprises will knock their socks off. I should qualify -- it's not that you'll have no sense at all, because you presumably have seen movies and TV and so on. You're not brand new to stories. And yet, prose is a very different form, with a different audience, a different language, and different terrain. You will not blunder your way into greatness, or even competence, by sheer serendipity.

Consider: you want to write a book that you, apparently, would rather not read, because it's a book. How likely are you to be pleased with this book, then? How will you be able to tell if you're doing "well" or "not well"? Who, precisely, do you think will be a good audience for your work, and how can you tell if they'll like it without knowing what else they enjoy?

The good news is, reading is not a very onerous hobby to break into. It doesn't take a lot of time or effort, you can start with whatever catches your fancy, you can go at your own pace. Heck, you can read on the bus, or listen to books on tape, and soak fiction up by the liter. (Also, pro tip: if you don't have time to read, then when is it you think you'll have time to write?)

And, you don't necessarily need to have read a ton in order to start becoming a good writer. You've read some Tolkien? Great, now you know how those books look; you have a model and something to imitate. Read another fantasy book or two, if that's your style - you'll learn more about fantasy, and you'll also see some differences from Tolkien. Great; you've got a broader range than you did two books ago. Keep reading; keep writing; and keep looking for books that are in the general vicinity of what you're writing - because that's the area that will help you most, and most immediately.

You can't be a good writer without reading at all, but once you are reading, however little, you are advancing in the right direction. You can figure out the pace you want as you go along.

posted about 10 years ago

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Standback‭

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