#9: Writing But Not Reading

Two fanfics writers I know admitted to me that they don't read fanfics. This is such an alien concept to me, I don't know what to make of it and started this post to work it out. Why am I so befuddled?

I don't expect anyone to read the crazy amount of stuff I do. I was reading by age four and reached college-level texts by fourth grade (my teacher for that grade complained about it to my mother at open house). I started writing the year after that. But reading has never stopped in the mean time.

I can understand not reading while writing to avoid stealing someone else's ideas. There is a technique to borrowing elements from other works without plagiarizing and it takes practice. Plus time is always a factor. Often reading must be set aside in order to write.

And I should know that not reading other fanfics in the fandom doesn't stop the creation of good fanfics. After all, I don't read Legend of Zelda fanfics and that has never stopped my series.

However, I think the writers who admitted this to me read more than they think they do. After all, as Stephen King bluntly puts it, "If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that." (On Writing 147) These guys are good writers, which is where my disbelief came in, since I have been linking the two activities for a long time.

It's not a strategy I'd recommend to newbies to writing or to a fandom. It helps the creative process to be either secure in your ability to tell a story or secure in the fandom will not rake you with flaming claws when you offer one. That's why I put "Know your fandom" as the first rule in the Writing Tutorial Introduction.

If time is constrained, I recommend taking your downtime between first and second drafts to read. Check out the new writers in your fandom or pick up a favorite classic. You're supposed to be on a break, so take advantage of it.