Writing Blog

20231208 On Reading

December 8, 2023, 6:00pm

Did a little bit of writing and a lot of reading today. I really don't read enough a lot of the time because I am too busy writing, but I didn't want to force anything today (personal reasons... why does my life not get better?), so I just did a thousand words or so, and then finished the book I'd been working through for a couple of weeks, and then started the next in my TBR pile.

I'm working through a bunch of non-fiction titles at the moment, which is what I try to do when I am writing fiction, especially when I have more than one thing on the go and the genres are all over the place. (For the record, the current works are a horror, a fantasy-horror-comedy, and a comedy.)

Anyway, that is something I've found works for me - I try to never read the same genre I am writing when I am writing it. This does mean I do not read as much horror as I probably should, but does mean I have expanded my fiction reading genres.

So, I guess that begs the question: why?

I have found that when I'm stuck at a spot in a story, if I am reading the same genre, then I will fill in gaps based on that book. It does not seem to work the same way with watching movies, interestingly enough, but maybe because I find movie watching something I do not enjoy any longer as much as I did as a kid. I watch the old favourites maybe once or twice a month, watch new ones when I get freebies so I can review them, but really am no longer interested. Give me a good documentary any time, really.

So, yeah, I read away from my writing. Psychology time! I think I do that because I was accused of writing Stephen King pastiches back in the early 1990s, and it stuck with me. Yeah, one bit of negative feedback and I can't shake it. Who said writers are thick-skinned?

So, my reading... I just finished a book about the controversies in professional wrestling, started a book of interviews with famous musicians, and next is a Roger Moore autobiography.

Sorry for boring you.