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Does it seem strange that I write fiction novels but I don't really read any books. If I had more time, I may do a bit more reading but I devote any and all free time to polishing and perfecting my novels. I'm sure that if I did read more books, it would benefit my own writing.

I write but I don't usually read. Well I do, I read the type of books that I would write but I don't read the rest of them. Your case is a little different than mine, but it makes perfect sense to me. You've built up this story in your head, why would you want to read about someone else's fiction when it might distract you from your own?

Same "problem" here. I write but don't read. mainly because of lack of time. However, when I'm jogging, walking or riding a bike I listen to audiobooks.

Yeah, time is a big factor. And when you enjoy writing more than you do reading, it's hard to schedule in reading time that could be used for writing.

The only time I read now really is just before bed. I sneak in a few pages on nights when I don't fall asleep the moment my head hits the pillow.

I recently heard this very suggestion being put to an award winning author & I thought her response was interesting ..... she said that in her opinion a writer who does not read is like a gardener who doesn't use mulch.

Fran wrote:I recently heard this very suggestion being put to an award winning author & I thought her response was interesting ..... she said that in her opinion a writer who does not read is like a gardener who doesn't use mulch.

Yeah, I agree, as bad as I am at it. Stephan King said something similar, I think. Something along the lines of he who does not have the time to read lacks both the tools and the time to write. I try to do an off/on approach. Write a book, read a couple books, write a book, read a couple books.

It's obvious the art of reading and writing are two different things. People will read many different books for many different reasons, but they write to express themselves. The trouble with writing and not reading is that one risks becoming stale. As with anything, the more you learn, the more expert you become.

It has been said that if you read someone else's work, you soon realise the uniqueness of your own work. And I like to think that's why most great authors know an awful lot about other authors books - a finger on the literary pulse.

No....if you are not a great reader,you can't be a great writer..so in my point of you..you should also a good reader .

I find that reading (and by reading I mean anything; it could be a book, magazine, article, etc.) helps my writing tremendously. Even if you think you know it all when it comes to writing (which will never happen), just being subjected to other styles of writing will help give you ideas and even teach you. I am all for both writing and reading because they compliment each other.

I admire that you can do so

Not all writers read, when I used to wrote I didn't read. But now that I've started reading, I write less.

I don't have the patience to read much for entertainment now. I rely on the books I read when I was younger.

I also don't read much in order to avoid accidentally copying an idea too closely.

I think that most writers at least read books within their genre. Myself, writing modern private detective novels, read Robert Crais, Bill Pronzini, and others.

I admit to never hearing of someone who doesn't at least read within the genre.

But if you can, go for it. Understand that I don't read the "competition" for tips -- I read for the pleasure of it alone. Perhaps you just don't gain pleasure from reading? If so, don't think you need to therefore read as an assignment.

Seems to me that if you don't read, you don't stand much of a chance of knowing what others will want to read. If you only write to hear yourself talk, that's not a problem. But if you're writing for others to read it, I would think you would need to read, to have some idea of the current market, in the same way a computer programmer needs to keep current in his field or risk being left behind.

I read all the time. When I'm out somewhere and therefore can't write, I read. I do feel it helps me when I write.