Once Upon A Time....
Aside from writing everyday, what else do people tell you to do? Read, right? People tell you that if you want to become a good author, you should read a lot. They all say that reading helps with vocabulary, story structure, etc.
My Basic Writing professor a couple of semesters ago had just read a book. It was called, "Hole In My Life" by Jack Gantos. It's a memoir and it's about a man who wanted to stay a writing career. He made it to that goal, but he did a lot of bad things to get there. You can read it for yourself, I'm not going to get into it now...my point is, my professor told us, as we read the book, to write down any words that we did not know the meaning of. Then he wanted us to go look up the words in a dictionary and write down the definitions. That's usually what people expect you to do when you read a story. I don't know about you, but I don't do that. If there's a word I don't understand, I read around it and I can usually figure out what is going on. Of course, there are those few times when I just get flat out confused and then I will go to a dictionary or Google or something. So, reading is supposed to help you with your vocabulary. The more words you know, the more words you'll put into your own story to make you sound smarter.
Reading is also a good way to look at different story structures. There are some books that have little to no dialogue, some books have people talking left and right, some have chapters that are two pages long, and some have chapters that are about 30 pages long. Some books have plots and characters that just have to continue on in sequels and some are perfectly fine as stand alone books. 200 pages, 500 pages, it doesn't really matter. There must be a million different ways to write a novel and the types of books we read are only just a few of them.
Reading books is basically studying how to format a book. Like I previously stated, there are probably a million different ways to write a book. Although, you write the way you write. Each person has their own style, but this just broadens their writing style a little more.
So, my other New Year's resolution was to read at least 50 pages a day. I try to get myself to read everyday during whatever spare time I have. Usually I tend to stay up later than I want and I read for an hour before I go to bed. When you have work and school and such, it's hard to just curl up on the couch and read a whole book.
However, like I said, I try to read for at least one hour every night before I go to bed. That's something that everyone should try. At least a half hour or something. Not only will you be learning more about writing, but it'll relax your mind and put you at ease before you fall asleep.
Aside from writing everyday, what else do people tell you to do? Read, right? People tell you that if you want to become a good author, you should read a lot. They all say that reading helps with vocabulary, story structure, etc.
My Basic Writing professor a couple of semesters ago had just read a book. It was called, "Hole In My Life" by Jack Gantos. It's a memoir and it's about a man who wanted to stay a writing career. He made it to that goal, but he did a lot of bad things to get there. You can read it for yourself, I'm not going to get into it now...my point is, my professor told us, as we read the book, to write down any words that we did not know the meaning of. Then he wanted us to go look up the words in a dictionary and write down the definitions. That's usually what people expect you to do when you read a story. I don't know about you, but I don't do that. If there's a word I don't understand, I read around it and I can usually figure out what is going on. Of course, there are those few times when I just get flat out confused and then I will go to a dictionary or Google or something. So, reading is supposed to help you with your vocabulary. The more words you know, the more words you'll put into your own story to make you sound smarter.
Reading is also a good way to look at different story structures. There are some books that have little to no dialogue, some books have people talking left and right, some have chapters that are two pages long, and some have chapters that are about 30 pages long. Some books have plots and characters that just have to continue on in sequels and some are perfectly fine as stand alone books. 200 pages, 500 pages, it doesn't really matter. There must be a million different ways to write a novel and the types of books we read are only just a few of them.
Reading books is basically studying how to format a book. Like I previously stated, there are probably a million different ways to write a book. Although, you write the way you write. Each person has their own style, but this just broadens their writing style a little more.
So, my other New Year's resolution was to read at least 50 pages a day. I try to get myself to read everyday during whatever spare time I have. Usually I tend to stay up later than I want and I read for an hour before I go to bed. When you have work and school and such, it's hard to just curl up on the couch and read a whole book.
However, like I said, I try to read for at least one hour every night before I go to bed. That's something that everyone should try. At least a half hour or something. Not only will you be learning more about writing, but it'll relax your mind and put you at ease before you fall asleep.
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