Here’s my answer to the #20. Something that grinds gears and may be an unpopular opinion.
If you do not read, you will never be a writer.
Let me clarify.
The written word is an ages old craft. There is literally thousands of documents showing this craft. Utilize them. Go to a bookstore, now. Buy some books. No money? Library. No library? Download it. If you’re reading this, you’re on the internet so you have some means of acquiring books.
And read from a breadth of sources. You may want to write Westerns but you need more than Louis L’amour and Bret Harte. Read Huxley and King and Steinbeck. Learn from these other themes and genres. Find what works, what makes them tick, what breathes life into them and makes you fall in love with their worlds and characters and themes. Use them in your works, hammer them and play with them and see what you can make of the paragraph and the pacing and cadence of word choice.
Don’t. For the fuckmothering love of little baby monkeys, DO NOT simply go to tvtropes and wile away an afternoon. Doing that only gives you the barest, vaguest idea of what you’re dealing with. Theory without practice in the worst sense of the concept.
If you’re part of a writer’s circle or any group, show some love for your group. Read their work and have them read yours. Discuss the work. Discuss what you liked and what you didn’t like. Don’t just look for common proofreading errors. Get a feel for the piece. Know the piece. Think of ways that you would present the information they presented, for better or worse, and make note of that for when you are writing. This is what forwards you and your craft.
Everyone wants comments and love and adoration. Pay it forward. Like the above, if you want it, you start giving it just as much. Read and re-read the things you like to know why you liked it, to know why you didn’t like it.
But never, never ignore the other half of your so called artistic calling. Writing and reading, reading and writing are talents one in the same. Anyone who says otherwise knows nothing of either.
Read from lots of different perspectives, not just genres. Huxley, King, Steinbeck, L’amour, Harte = all white dudes from the West, all pretty well-off. I’m not specifically picking on your choices, Rollem — I’m sure you read plenty of not white, straight, rich dudes — but the point stands that those are what came to mind first. They often do, when you mention “classics”.
So… yeah. Read lots of different things by different types of people, writers!
