Are all writers, readers? [closed]
Closed by System on Sep 5, 2017 at 21:17
This question was closed; new answers can no longer be added. Users with the reopen privilege may vote to reopen this question if it has been improved or closed incorrectly.
I am new to the writing scene but i have had the passion for it. One thing that has baffled my mind was how writers would not comment on other people's work but more concerned with their work. It has led me to ask this question.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/29928. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
2 answers
No.
We always think of authors and other artists as people who were excited by some media experience (e.g. reading books, viewing movies, or playing computer games) and began a career in their medium because of their love for it.
But enthusiasm for a medium is not the only motivation to write or make movies or paint. There are a great number of books written (sometimes with the help of ghost writers) from a need to tell of a personal experience or some insight that someone gained. Many of these authors aren't readers in the sense that reading made them want to write. It was their life that made them tell of it.
Of course many of these kinds of authors have read books in their lives and from that reading have some knowledge of how to go about writing one, but others led lives mostly devoid of reading.
Books by these authors aren't necessarily autobiographical, either. Some of these people write non-fiction books in which they attempt to convey the knowledge that they have acquired. Others wrap their teaching into a narrative fiction.
Examples for books by these kinds of authors are accounts of uncommon lives, spiritual teaching, political ideology, or how-to books (by which I don't want to imply that all of these kinds of books are by that kind of author). Usually these authors publish only one book in their lives.
Two extreme examples:
-
Musician Kayne West wrote Thank You and You're Welcome. West says of himself:
"I am a proud non-reader of books. I like to get information from doing stuff like actually talking to people and living real life."
Queensland author Ken Hall cannot read. Yet he has published nine books.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/30052. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
0 comment threads
Yes, all writers are readers.
It isn't clear what you are asking, however. We comment on other people's work all the time, particularly published work.
If what you mean is why don't we review other people's work, particularly amateur strangers, it is because experience tells us (or at least it tells me) there is so much wrong with it, it is a generally a waste of our own limited writing time to tell them about it.
I know I will seldom be entertained, and most likely they don't need a note from me, they need a course in writing. Also most are thin-skinned and are devastated or angry if I don't love every word of it.
There are three people in my circle of friends that I would gladly review anything they DID write, because I know it would be entertaining and I also know they have thick writing hides and won't be offended if I tell them about a story problem.
We read, we watch movies, we watch TV (a little reality but mostly I prefer the scripted and acted variety of shows). We make references to the same and use them as examples (for good or bad).
On this site I am interested in HOW amateurs write, but not so interested in WHAT amateurs write. People get paid to pan for gold in that, and they deserve every penny.
0 comment threads
0 comment threads