Why Reading Everything Will Make You a Better Writer

From Writerslife.org:

When it comes to improving our writing, one of the most important things you can do is read. Reading is by far the very best way to get inspired, to learn, to experiment and find our own writing voice, and the more we read, the more our writing will improve.

Many famous writers have testified the same, speaking out about how reading can have a profound and exciting influence on the mind. As the great Stephen King said:

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” -

The great news is that reading is a brilliant pastime too! When you are truly immersed in a great book there is nothing quite like it, you are lost in another world, and you can truly let go of the stresses and strains of everyday life.

So just how does reading influence and improve your writing? Let’s take a look.

It inspires you

Reading as much as you possibly can is by far the best way to get inspiration for your work. That’s not to say you should set out with the goal of copying or pinching another authors ideas, but allowing yourself to be inspired by their work and purposely thinking about the elements of their stories that you love and how you could use them in your own writing just makes good sense!

It teaches you

When you read you are learning from the greats. Your favourite authors are probably pretty successful, and by reading their work and that of others, you will understand what it is that makes a great story. This knowledge is invaluable to any writer and the more you read, the more insights you will discover!

It helps you get to know a genre better and learn its rules

When you know what genre your book is it is a good idea to read as many books as possible that are in the same genre. Doing so will help you discover the various patterns that make a book fall into that category, and you’ll begin to understand the common themes and the rules which can help you make sure that when you write your own story, you are following these and are therefore more likely to make it appeal to the right readers.

It widens your vocabulary, improves your grammar skills and opens your eyes to new techniques.

The more you read, the more educated you become, not just around the topics you read but also the tools and structures that are necessary to make a story flow well. You will have a more extensive vocabulary, using language creatively will come more naturally to you, and the way to pull sentences together will also improve.

Think about it, do you know any painters who don’t love art? Any musicians who refuse to listen to music? All creative, artistic people are passionate about their art as a whole and use it to help them become better at what they do. The same goes for writers, without love and passion for reading it will be so difficult to come up with a story that other people love and enjoy.

So if you only take away one piece of advice as a writer, then it should be to read. Read anything and everything you like and the more you do, the more empowered, knowledgeable and creative you’ll become!

Yes, we've all been told that we must read in order to write better. But as far as reading from all genres goes, That is one I have yet to hear. I seem to read just about everything, though reading some genres is rare. I recently listened to the audiobook of Joyce Meyer's self-improvement book Eat the Cookie, Buy the Shoes.   I rarely read these kind of books, but getting out of your reading comfort zone is good once in a  while. Also, I fellow client at behavioral health likes reading Joyce Meyer, so I decided to give reading some of her stuff a try. This is only the second book of Meyer's I have attempted. 

Westerns is another genre I have not read a lot of. In order to push myself to read more of this genre, I chose to sign up for the Wild Wild West Reading Challenge.  I have yet to read anything for this particular genre this year, but in the past two years, I have listened to some audiobooks of Western stories.

What genres do you read less often?

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