Hard time enjoying reading?

blacbird · Jan 29, 2014

If you don't enjoy reading fiction, you will NEVER be successful writing it. That's an assertion, I know, but I'll stand behind it. It isn't an insult. If you enjoy reading non-fiction, why don't you write non-fiction? I read a lot of nonfiction, and have several favorite authors of popular nonfiction (Dava Sobel, Simon Winchester, Jon Krakauer, John McPhee, Stephen Jay Gould, Oliver Sacks, Candice Millard come immediately to mind). But I don't think I have the skills to write that kind of stuff, so I don't go there.

Reading fiction, however, gave me the impetus to try to write it. I can't imagine taking on writing a fiction story if I detested reading fiction. So I reiterate my earlier question, in revised terms: Why do you want to engage in producing something you don't enjoy?

caw

Roxxsmom · Jan 29, 2014

It would be interesting if it were possible to do some kind of survey of reasonably successful novelists (of course, defining what we mean by successful is a can of worms in of itself) to determine whether there are any who have never at any time in their life read fiction for pleasure.

I'd be inclined to agree with blacbird that such would be nonexistent. But life has a way of tossing strange exceptions into our faces, so I suppose it's possible that there may be a few.

I know for me, the books I've read in my life have taught me a lot about the basics of storytelling and characterization, and they've given me a feel for the mechanics of throwing sentences together. They also continue to provide ideas, inspiration, instruction and motivation (even if it's sometimes thinking I could do something better).

TheNighSwan · Jan 29, 2014

There's kind of a radical moving of the goalpost here though.

We went from "don't read much/don't particularly enjoy reading and still writes and is published" to "has never read anything ever and is a successful writer".

Examples of the former have already been provided in this thread, by several posters.

spikeman4444 · Jan 29, 2014

TheNighSwan said:
There's kind of a radical moving of the goalpost here though.

We went from "don't read much/don't particularly enjoy reading and still writes and is published" to "has never read anything ever and is a successful writer".

Examples of the former have already been provided in this thread, by several posters.

THIS. My op was about how I read, daily in fact, and find some works that I enjoy, but the large majority of which I truly dislike and find unenjoyable. I would rather do a million things than read, but I understand that (as Blacbird points out, I can't expect to write fiction if I don't read it). So I do read, every day, every week out of forced habit. I find enjoyable chapters and enjoyable dialogue and even the occassional character I am interested by. But I rarely find a novel I am hooked on from start to finish or a story that grips me enough to not look forward to putting it down and coming back to it tomorrow.

So for those who claim you cannot be a success at writing without reading, you are correct. But, those who suggest you can't be a success at writing unless you ENJOY reading, you are obviously closed-minded and blind to the many posters here who have shared that they in fact do not treat the interest of reading/writing as linked, and that in fact one can enjoy one without enjoying the other. I can enjoy making love, but not want to sit and watch other people doing it. Because the act itself is pleasurable, but seeing the result of other people who have engaged in that act does not interest me. I want to build worlds and develop a million ideas with the tips of my fingers, but forgive me for not giving a darn what you want to build with yours. Perhaps my inspiration is purely based on how poor some published work truly is. It is not for you to judge why someone is motivated to do something.

Guess what, Beethoven was deaf...

TheNighSwan · Jan 29, 2014

(to be fair, Beethoven wasn't born deaf; he started to lose hearing around 1796 and wasn't completely deaf until around 1814; by this time he had composed all but the last of his symphonies; he did compose the 9th symphony and the "late string quartets" while completely deaf, though)

MookyMcD · Jan 29, 2014

If it works for you, more power to ya. When things are clicking, writing (to me) feels exactly like reading a great book, but turned up to 11. Writing is basically a super-reading experience on an emotional level for me. Because I experience the same emotions from both, although much more substantially from writing, I can't really put myself in the shoes of someone who doesn't feel that way about reading. But, if you're still getting that from writing even if you don't from reading, it's good you are at least in touch with it.

I'd still read, though. I'd just think of it as equivalent to watching game tapes as a football coach/player. It's a big part of the job whether you enjoy it or not. Although there must be something out there you'd enjoy if you read it. Saying "I don't like to read" is like saying "I don't like soup." There are a billion kinds of soups -- from chilled raspberry to jalapeno bacon cheddar. You may not like any soup your mom made, but there is a soup out there you like, trust me.

LJD · Jan 29, 2014

MookyMcD said:
Saying "I don't like to read" is like saying "I don't like soup." There are a billion kinds of soups -- from chilled raspberry to jalapeno bacon cheddar. You may not like any soup your mom made, but there is a soup out there you like, trust me.

Heh. My partner insists he does not like soup. Period. I think there must be something he would like, and the problem is that he just hasn't eaten enough soup. (I make soup once a week for half the year and he's never tried it. Not in the 5+ years we've lived together.) But he says otherwise. I dunno, it's possible he's right.

spikeman4444 · Jan 29, 2014

Currently reading Across the Universe by Beth Revis and enjoying it thus far. I was excited to read it, and my library's only copy has been out every time I come by. But it's living up to my expectations. I enjoy sci-fi YA. Ender's Game is one of my favs. So, to be fair, I think I enjoy a very small selection of soups. Some soups taste good going down but leave an awful feeling in my stomach after, while others are disagreeable from the moment they meet the tongue. Those books--er, I mean soups, are the ones I have to choke down.

spikeman4444 · Jan 29, 2014

TheNighSwan said:
(to be fair, Beethoven wasn't born deaf; he started to lose hearing around 1796 and wasn't completely deaf until around 1814; by this time he had composed all but the last of his symphonies; he did compose the 9th symphony and the "late string quartets" while completely deaf, though)

grrrr.....thank you for crushing my big finish to that post.

clenick · Jan 29, 2014

I didn't read all the posts in this thread, but I'll add my two cents as an editor.

I used to read a ton as a kid, started writing in junior high, and was an English major in college (where I continued to read and write a lot, of course). After a few years of editing professionally, I realized that I had stopped reading and writing for pleasure. The last book I read because I wanted to was about three and a half years ago. Before that? I have no idea. Maybe five or six years?

The irony is that in reality, I'm reading all the time for many hours every day. I do read news stories or other bits of nonfiction online here and there. But otherwise, if I'm not getting paid, I'm not reading it.

I do hope to become a beta reader here though. But I would go into it with a content editor's eye, not a reader's eye.

Papaya · Jan 29, 2014

spikeman4444 said:
Guess what, Beethoven was deaf...

TheNighSwan said:
(to be fair, Beethoven wasn't born deaf; he started to lose hearing around 1796 and wasn't completely deaf until around 1814; by this time he had composed all but the last of his symphonies; he did compose the 9th symphony and the "late string quartets" while completely deaf, though)

It's also worth noting that Beethoven considered suicide when he began to lose his hearing and decided to continue living for and through his art. That doesn't sound to me like a man who doesn’t like music. In fact, based on my limited understanding of his life, Beethoven was rather obsessed with music.

TheNighSwan · Jan 29, 2014

LJD said:
Heh. My partner insists he does not like soup. Period. I think there must be something he would like, and the problem is that he just hasn't eaten enough soup. (I make soup once a week for half the year and he's never tried it. Not in the 5+ years we've lived together.) But he says otherwise. I dunno, it's possible he's right.

Personally, the attitude that consists in telling someone "no, you don't actually dislike X, you just haven't tried hard enough/haven't had really good X" I find a bit irking; I know when X is a really common/popular thing some people have a hard time understanding how could anyone possibly not like X, but sometimes, yes, "I don't like X" indicates that the speaker really doesn't like X, at all.

MookyMcD · Jan 29, 2014

TheNighSwan said:
Personally, the attitude that consists in telling someone "no, you don't actually dislike X, you just haven't tried hard enough/haven't had really good X" I find a bit irking; I know when X is a really common/popular thing some people have a hard time understanding how could anyone possibly not like X, but sometimes, yes, "I don't like X" indicates that the speaker really doesn't like X, at all.

Your description of the attitude indicates you missed the point. "Soup" is not a food. There are hundreds of thousands of completely different liquid-based dishes, many of which are in no way even remotely similar to one another, all of which we generalize as "soup." But the fact that you hated your mother's split pea soup really has no bearing (outside your own prejudices) on whether you should or should not like Laotian lemongrass soup, and your opinions on that shouldn't cause you to assume it will be remotely similar to beef bourguignon.

Lady Ice · Jan 29, 2014

NRoach said:
Most of the story ideas that I come up with and say "that's a cool idea" simply haven't been written.

I can guarantee you they have, in some form or another.

I can understand people reading books and thinking, "Oh, wouldn't it be interesting if it was done like this?" or "Oh, I didn't like that ending. I'd write it like this?" I mean, that's what some famous authors do. But I find the idea of people boasting that they don't actually like reading because what they are going to write will be better than anything out there is rather arrogant and close-minded, whether that's intentional or not. Even if you read mainly for inspiration rather than relaxing, it's still engaging with books.

Lady Ice · Jan 29, 2014

NRoach said:
Maybe it's so difficult to imagine because you're lumping both reading and writing together.
They really are radically different processes. They're intertwined, obviously, but one would find it really hard to argue them to be in any way similar.

Do you also find readers who don't want to write strange? Foodies who don't want to cook? Art connoisseurs with no interest in painting?

You're twisting it though, arguing that everybody who consumes wants to create. Even if they don't create themselves, I would think they have a strong interest in its creation- particularly in your analogy of the foodie and the art connoisseur. A lot of the time it may be the case that they just don't have the skill to be the creator.

It's not even that I think a writer would be less skilled if they didn't read. It's simply odd, like a chef who doesn't like eating. Of course, people might be more drawn to writing than to reading, but to want to be a writer yet have no interest in reading is perverse. Writing is all about being open-minded and wanting to explore your imagination- why would someone willingly want to close that off?

AgentCooper · Jan 29, 2014

If you're not an especially voracious reader, then what do you want to write about? That may be where your problem lies.

For example, are you a big fan of movies, television, and that particular medium? Theatre? If what you're interested in writing is fiction, maybe something like a short story or a novel just isn't what appeals to you. You could check out some screenplays for film or television programs you enjoy. Possibly snap up some plays with stories that are of interest to you. If your stories tend to manifest in a very visual manner and you're really interested in these mediums of storytelling, you could even take a stab at screenwriting/playwriting.

Or, maybe you're not even a fan of fiction. You say that you read a few articles here and there; have you ever considered blogging or anything to that effect?

If you're set on writing fiction and aren't a fan of books, that is kind of bizarre to my way of thinking; I don't know of many (if any) people who loathe reading entirely but want to be fiction writers. I do know of people who don't read many books who write screenplays, blog articles, and things like that, though. Maybe you're just in the latter camp?

Roxxsmom · Jan 29, 2014

It still seems odd to me that someone would want to create something they find (mostly) boring and pointless to consume, except for the purposes of getting better at creating it. If you don't value it, why do you think the word needs more of it?

What sort of media do you enjoy consuming? Television? Movies? Video games? Graphic novels? So why don't you want to write for those?

blacbird · Jan 29, 2014

TheNighSwan said:
(to be fair, Beethoven wasn't born deaf; he started to lose hearing around 1796 and wasn't completely deaf until around 1814; by this time he had composed all but the last of his symphonies; he did compose the 9th symphony and the "late string quartets" while completely deaf, though)

This is a slight aside from the thread, but my son is an excellent musician and composer. He has perfect pitch and learned to sight-read music scores at the age of about ten. Some years ago I asked him if he heard the music as he read it. He looked at me as if I had plunged to Earth from the Andromeda Galaxy, with the unspoken question in his face: "Doesn't everybody?"

Methinks Beethoven, even in deafness, was one of the people with this talent.

Remember also the great scene in the Oscar-winning film The Pianist, where Adrian Brodie, as the trapped fugitive Jewish pianist in Berlin, plays the piano silently, with hands above the keys, so no one will hear the music. Except him.

caw

blacbird · Jan 29, 2014

TheNighSwan said:
(to be fair, Beethoven wasn't born deaf; he started to lose hearing around 1796 and wasn't completely deaf until around 1814; by this time he had composed all but the last of his symphonies; he did compose the 9th symphony and the "late string quartets" while completely deaf, though)

This is a slight aside from the thread, but my son is an excellent musician and composer. He has perfect pitch and learned to sight-read music scores at the age of about ten. Some years ago I asked him if he heard the music as he read it. He looked at me as if I had plunged to Earth from the Andromeda Galaxy, with the unspoken question in his face: "Doesn't everybody?"

Methinks Beethoven, even in deafness, was one of the people with this talent.

Remember also the great scene in the Oscar-winning film The Pianist, where Adrien Brody, as the trapped fugitive Jewish pianist in Berlin, plays the piano silently, with hands above the keys, so no one will hear the music. Except him.

caw

MookyMcD · Jan 29, 2014

All other issues aside, I've also spent as much time reading my MS through the process of editing and revising it as I spent writing it in the first place. Also, to have good critique partners, you've got to be a good critique partner, so add a few more novels, line-by-line, word-by-word to that. I'm probably at least 2 to 1 on the amount of time I've invested reading to the the time invested actually writing. Even if you don't want to pleasure read, there's still a hell of a lot of reading involved in writing well.

TheNighSwan · Jan 30, 2014

MookyMcD said:
Your description of the attitude indicates you missed the point. "Soup" is not a food. There are hundreds of thousands of completely different liquid-based dishes, many of which are in no way even remotely similar to one another, all of which we generalize as "soup." But the fact that you hated your mother's split pea soup really has no bearing (outside your own prejudices) on whether you should or should not like Laotian lemongrass soup, and your opinions on that shouldn't cause you to assume it will be remotely similar to beef bourguignon.

What. Beef bourguignon is not soup.

And I can dislike "all soup" if you know, I happen to dislike the sensation of liquid food; just as some people can dislike all books because they don't like reading, they don't like the act of reading, to the point that it doesn't matter what they are reading.

So yes, my description indicates that this is, in fact, exactly what is going on here.

Cybernaught · Jan 30, 2014

It's completely pompous for someone to admit they hate reading but demand others not share that sentiment and read their work, which is apparently "better" than anything else out there. No thanks.

Marian Perera · Jan 30, 2014

I have to admit, if I knew a writer had characterized most books as "stupid and pointless", or such a waste of time that he had to force himself to read them, I'd be turned off that writer's work. No matter what the motivation, at best those don't sound like sentiments I can understand or agree with.

At worst? Well. Others have already said that for me. Denigrating a certain product, especially with blanket generalizations, and then putting out that product yourself just makes me wonder... do you (generic you) consider your own work boring, stupid, pointless or a waste of time too? Or is your work somehow better?

Previous threads from writers who hated to read novels; they make for some interesting browsing:

Do you know of any writers that...

I do not read books & I do not believe in criticism, yet I aspire to be a great writer. Am I doomed?

spikeman4444 · Jan 30, 2014

I will refer anyone who wants to continue on this thread to my ORIGINAL POST before commenting further please. People have begun to take this to a far extreme, suggesting that I "hate reading" and find it "stupid and pointless" or that my work is "better than what is out there." These are all conclusions you all drew on your own. You're all getting aggravated and angry at no one, because no one ever said they hated reading. As THe Night Swan pointed out, this is a matter of having different tastes. Some people like soup, and others don't. Some people (whether you can fathom it or not) enjoy writing more than they like reading. This is not to say that reading is not valuable and pleasure cannot be derived from it, but writing is my true interest. I would have never been interested in writing if I never picked up at least a few books along the way that I loved. That cannot be denied. I just want to point out that these last few posts have completely gone off the tracks and I want to point out that they are no longer even following what is actually being discussed here.

spikeman4444 · Jan 30, 2014

spikeman4444 said:
You know, sometimes I think about how less and less people in today's society read and it inspires me to read just out of sheer defiance. I don't have any facts to back up my view, but I think that today's world has become more about youtube videos, video games and tv and movies than about reading. This goes for kids and adults alike. And so, as a writer who hopes to one day be published, and for people to actually purchase my book for my own financial gain, I feel I cannot ask others to have a want for purchasing and enjoying books if I myself do not make an attempt at it. Having said that, I think that I would still read even if I wasn't a writer, but it would be far less than I do now.

Also, for the poster who implied I am pompous for wanting others to read my works but not reading myself, please see above

Hard time enjoying reading?

Beastly Fido

The snozberrys taste lke snozberrys

I go to eleven

The snozberrys taste lke snozberrys

The snozberrys taste lke snozberrys

Unfold your own myth. - Rumi

I go to eleven

Makes useful distinctions

Makes useful distinctions

Renowned Hack

Beastly Fido

I go to eleven

Decker

starting over

The snozberrys taste lke snozberrys

The snozberrys taste lke snozberrys