The Bloggers With The Most To Say
Are good blogger good readers ?
I mean there are many excellent writers out there..so,Is it necessarily to be a good reader too if you're a good writer ?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by kk on -
definitely. i've always held the belief that you have to be a good reader to be a good writer. writing is a constant learning process, and the one of the only ways you can learn is by reading the work of others.
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Permalink Reply by Chatterbox on -
I agree to this :)
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Permalink Reply by Mr. Apron on -
Well, it's at least necessary to possess the ability to read if you're a good writer. Otherwise, people might begin to suspect something.
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Permalink Reply by Joemill Flordelis on -
Good writers read a lot and are deemed the better readers. :)
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Permalink Reply by David Stehle on -
Usually writing and reading go hand in hand.
Although I'll admit I'm not a big novel reader. I do read a ton online, like news sites, etc. But if I'm reading an actual book, it's more for educational reasons (something I want to learn about), rather than strictly entertainment.
So yeah, I think you need to be a reader to be a good writer, but you REALLY need to write a lot to be become an even better writer.
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Permalink Reply by Mike DiGrande on -
I agree with this 100%: "You REALLY need to write a lot to be become an even better writer."
Practice makes perfect for us.
I'm also of the mentality that it's impossible to even begin to be a good writer if you are not reading at high volumes. This can be fiction or it can be other blogs, but I've noticed that I do my best writing when I'm reading heavily. I think exposure to other people connecting their ideas together helps you to be able construct your points clearly as a writer.
If writing is the jelly, reading is the peanut butter. And they both go well together. :P
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Permalink Reply by Angie on -
It definitely helps to teach me how to hook someone with those imperative first few sentences. People are short on time these days and attention span (like me) so I need my interest caught right away or unfortunately I'll probably just end up skimming.
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Permalink Reply by Tim Stiffler-Dean on
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That's where learning how to write good headers, breaking up posts into sections and developing gripping first sentences comes in handy. Cause you're exactly right about skimming.
The head is meant to make them read the first word. The first word - the first sentence. The first sentence - the first section of that article. If we can't capture them in that first moment, then how can we expect to capture them at all?
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I like to take a bit of a twist on this. I don't just believe that we have to read a lot to be good writers, but as young writers we need to read a lot of different authors - even some that we don't like.
Think about it, if you're reading the same authors time and time again, then your writing style will reflect that. Rather, we should be striving to create our own writing styles - and that takes a lot of the sub-conscious comparison that comes with reading plenty of different authors.
Right now I'm even struggling through a book that I can't stand. The plot-line is dull and the characters are flat. But I am getting something from this author. Obviously they've sold that book to a few hundred people, and those people recommended it to others. There must be something about it that is good, and I'm bound to learn from that.
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Permalink Reply by Marzuki on
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Hey tim, this point your raised is absolutely refreshing.
I was a writer(read:blogger) first before I was into reading. I began my blog based on my own experiences and poor command of the language. A couple of years ago, I began to read a little bit of Dan Brown - who mustve written the book at such a fast pace coz the 2 books I read were page turners! I finished each book in a day or 2. But I wouldnt be moved to read it again.
A friend told me to read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and I believe Ive found a writer who writes in an incredibly slow and relaxed pace. And my entries post-Paulo Coelho reflected it - although I always felt there was already a Paulo Coelho in me before i even knew who he was.
Lately, Ive read The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and I was doing the subconscious comparison you were talking about. I saw a little bit of Kafka and a slightly larger bit of Marquez in my personal entries before I even knew who they were. That's when I began to realize that perhaps, I have a style I can call my own.
But 3 authors and 3 books is definitely not enough - but it's a start. And I'll keep in mind your last line: "There must be something about it that is good, and Im bound to learn from that."
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That's awesome. It's really cool to see that you actually did a test of it with your writings. I've been reading three different authors over the last few weeks (at the same time- Rob Bowdery, C.S. Lewis and Henry Cloud) and before that was getting heavy into David Ogilvy and Herman Hesse. All of these author's have such a variety of styles, that there is no way to really say that any is similar to the others.
An example:
Henry Cloud uses a ton of real-world examples in his writing, with shorter, more descriptive sentences that any person of any age could read and understand.
Herman Hesse (in the book Siddhartha) writes in a peculiar way, with an almost obscene usage of punctuation to put complete ideas together without breaking them into sentences or wasting any time.
Rob Bowdery and David Ogilvy write on the same exact topic - copywriting and advertising, and yet their styles are very different. Rob is much more clever, Ogilvy is straight to the point with the facts.
Looking at my writing style, I seem to go through different stages. Though lately I've actually found myself trying to write more like John Scalzi and Chris Brogan (the first is a Sci-Fi author and blogger, the second is a consultation, speaker and social network guru).
Here's a question - which of your recent author's styles do you like the most?
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