“Ignore My Booty.”

Every writing tip tells you to read a lot to write a lot, but I have been having a hard time reading after I started writing. Everything seems so predictable, you start a book and notice a hero's journey and boom you know exactly what the story is going to be, or after you learn how to foreshadow you get all the little references and know exactly what the thing is leading to. It just feels boring. Do you know any way to overcome this?

Trouble Reading After Writing

Honestly, that really is the one big drawback to being both a reader and a writer. Once you have a grasp on how to tell a story, flaws in others' stories are more apparent to you. And that's what's happening, unfortunately... if the hero's journey is that obvious, even to another writer, that's a flaw in the storytelling. If the foreshadowing references are that obvious to you, that's a flaw in the storytelling. Because top quality writing should generally pass muster even to other writers. And I say "generally" because it's all subjective anyway, so what seemed predictable to you may still not be predictable to another writer.

So, where you're at is where a lot of more experienced writers find themselves... the books you're going to enjoy will have to clear a higher bar, and sometimes it can take some time to find authors who meet your personal criteria... but you will. You may want to take advantage of e-book deals, library books, ARCs, and samples for a little while as you try to find books and authors that work for you. Because I'd say probably the number one key to this stage in your writing/reading relationship is to not be afraid to DNF. I used to really struggle with DNF-ing, so I would force myself to read the book and end up reading like a page a day if I was lucky. My personal rule is I give a book 3-5 chapters. If I absolutely hate it by the end of chapter three or so and it shows no promise or merit, I'll happily DNF. If it shows some promise or merit, I'll give it a couple more chapters to see how it goes. If I'm not invested enough to keep reading of my own volition, I'll DNF then.

But... keep at it, because you will find writers and books that work for you. Also: if you've read enough that you're to that point--where you understand storytelling so well that you can spot the flaws in others' stories--you're probably past the point where you need to be reading voraciously. Because the whole point of reading voraciously as a less experienced writer is to learn how stories work through firsthand experience. So, don't feel like you have to be inhaling books if you're past that point. Read what you want, when you want. A lot of writers don't read a lot while they're writing.

I hope that helps!

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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