Tag: writers

Reading to Write – Message for Aspiring Authors

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Earlier this week, as I scrolled through my email, I came across my girl Lisa’s Guest Blog Post  on the importance of having a good story line when writing erotica.First, I invite you to check out Lisa’s post (especially if you’re an Erotica writer) to get a better understanding of what I’m about to say. Lisa drew me in and nailed it. I’ll definitely be reading up on her upcoming series. Check her post out here.

One of the reasons I don’t review Erotica (I do read it occasionally, I just don’t review it) is because I’ve had bad experiences with Indie Author writers of this genre and not just Erotica but also Urban Fiction. Many of the writers who are emerging now showcase a variety of books that have bomb book covers and invite you in to read. Sometimes I just sit back and scroll through Google looking at book covers! They’re really nice. In fact, that’s what happened to me. This one cover was so enticing I just had to see what the book was about. Then, I got into the book and I’ve never been able to finish it. Needless to say, I was turned all the way off.

When I finished reading Lisa’s post a thought struck me, “They’re not reading.” It occurred to me that there are many people who write strictly from their own experiences and backgrounds, which is great no doubt, but is it enough? Are the stories really up to par? Or is it just that relatable aspect that we love and support? From a genuine writing perspective, are these books well written? Many of them are. But many of them are not.

I love how many of these books capture the gritty realness, but I’d be remised if I didn’t mention that I also see that something is missing. That missing link is reading. Many new writers, especially of Urban Fiction though not strictly UF, do not read books to write books.  In addition,  many of us are just not broadening our reading shelves. Many writers who write these books only read these kinds of books. This isn’t a bad thing but for writers, is this enough? The truth is no, it’s not. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy UF and applaud Urban Fiction’s impact on the increased reading of teens. Because of Street Lit, for instance, black teens are coming into libraries, checking out books, and increasing the number of books read.  However, for Indie Authors venturing into this genre reading books that are actually not well written, this provides for those readers no nurturing of the skill.

If you plan to write a book, it’s not enough just to read the kinds of books that you love. It occurred to me, after reading Lisa’s post, that there’s a host of young writers writing books who have never been readers and never plan to.

Note: There is NO such thing as being a writer who does not like to read. This is not judgement. This is fact. It is the same as saying that you like to teach elementary school but you don’t like children. How can you ever learn to write if you don’t read? Anyone can write and I encourage many young writers to do just that. However, to craft, a story of your own that is truly engaging will require you to study how other writers have done it. This can only be done by reading other writers.

Reading helps writers with:

Story Structure and Dialogue Tags

I didn’t learn about how to structure a basic story from a classroom, I learned it from a book. Writer’s don’t have to have a Masters in English or a Bachelors in Creative Writing. All we have to do is read more. It was books that taught me about dialogue tags before I knew what they were (not college). Sure, I didn’t know what it was called, but I did know how they were to be written.

“Writing in The Guardian, Dan Hurley pointed to recent studies confirming that the relationship between reading and intelligence is so close that it could be symbiotic. Listing out three types of intelligence most recognized by psychologists, Hurley stated that people who read overall performed better on all fronts.”

Why do you think brothers come home from Prison geniuses? All they did was read.

Plot

Speaking of story structure, a lot happens to a reader subconsciously that is then spilled into his / her writing. When a person reads, he or she is processing everything about that book to include the plot. You can learn how to write a good plot even if you haven’t been in school. Even if you knew nothing about the grammatical rules and even if you don’t understand it. Read more and you will learn from your teachers in ink: Authors.

Vocabulary

Study the language of the book and the style of the writer. Look at the vocabulary, how does the writer use the words? As a writer words are your everything anyway so you want to know how to use them. Don’t just read books to hurry up and finish them just so that you can say that you read it. Take your time with it so you can study it. Pay attention to what the author did with the words, how they made you feel, the symbolism, and multiple meanings. I have books I’ve been reading for a while now because I am studying them. I need to take my time and process how this bestselling author delivers.

Inspiration

I hear a lot about inspiration in the blogosphere but did you know that reading is the secret weapon of inspiration? Yes! Whenever you get writer’s block or can’t decide what to do next, read. It’ll jump start the creative juices. There is a way this works, though: As you read and come up with ideas, write them down! Remember, don’t just read, study what you read. Reading is the most powerful form of research for a writer.

From Grammarly to WordRake: A Review of 6 Automatic Editing Tools

Writers check it out! Excellent editing tools for those self edits. Use them to edit your manuscript or blog post. But, as the article states,remember:

“An automatic editing tool doesn’t replace a human editor. Because language rules and elements of a good story can be so flexible, human eyes will always be superior to the rigidity of automatic tools.”

No, the Internet Has Not Killed the Printed Book

No, Technology Has Not Killed the Printed Book.
Books line the walls on at Common Grounds, in DeKalb, Ill., in August. KATIE SMITH / DAILY CHRONICLE, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

“Even with Facebook, Netflix and other digital distractions increasingly vying for time, Americans’ appetite for reading books — the ones you actually hold in your hands — has not slowed in recent years, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.

Sixty-five percent of adults in the United States said they had read a printed book in the past year, the same percentage that said so in 2012. When you add in ebooks and audiobooks, the number that said they had read a book in printed or electronic format in the past 12 months rose to 73 percent, compared with 74 percent in 2012.”

Click Here to Keep Reading

Struggling authors, please read.

Fav Post Quote: ” If you can connect with one person a day, even one person a week as an author, you are doing fantastic. Being an author isn’t a race, and if you treat it like one, you’re setting yourself up for failure, because we don’t all run at the same speeds. Instead, take it slow, build real connections with real people, and they will love you as an author and be your fan for life. Hollow Facebook “likes” mean nothing over a true fan that admires you and your work, trust me.”

That’s what matters to me frfr. If I’ve reached ONE of you, I’ve done my job. Cheers. I’ll toast to that.

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Kyle Perkins's avatarAuthor Kyle Perkins

By Kyle Perkins.

So lately I have heard from a few people that they feel like they should just give up on writing because for whatever reason, they are feeling like it just isn’t worth it anymore. Whether they feel like they aren’t getting enough attention, don’t have enough fans, or whatever the case may be, they are wrong, and here’s why.

Writers and authors have a gift, and because we have that gift, we have an obligation, a responsibility to use it. We may “just” arrange words in such a fashion that people enjoy reading them, but a heart surgeon “just” transplants hearts, and astronauts “just” go to space. We need to stop treating writing like it is simply a hobby that “anyone” can do, because that’s not the case. We “just” take people to places they can’t go on their own, and give them a form of escapism…

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EC Quote Friday

ECQuoteFri

I don’t usually include any talking points with my EC Quotes, but I had to on this one because one  of the most valuable skills that I’ve gained as a Book Reviewer within the past year is the studying of books. Not only do I simply read them, but now I am also in the habit of taking notes even if I am not reviewing. Currently, I am knee deep into Colson Whitehead’s  Underground Railroad and Toni Morrison’s A Mercy.

Note-taking is a valuable skill and by doing so as you read your favorites, it maximizes your learning, your reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. You get to pull out key points, highlight, underline and look up the definitions of new words, jot down the names of people and places you didn’t know before, meditate on the format and language of the writer and how it is being used, and overall retain and analyze the information. Additionally, not just understanding of the story, but also of how the story is written. The most profound revelation to me of learning to write books, is that reading them is one of the first lessons, stepping stones if you will, we get in how to actually write them.

Audacity

Photo Credit: By Ali Arif Soydaş @aliarifsoydas

 

Concrete painted the color of our scars
red for the blood of every gangsta who died
believing that defending a street corner
was keeping it real
for every nigga who wears degradation
like it’s his first name
every rebellion
that hates nothing more than truth but a mirror
prissy pink for every woman
who thought her legs were the railroad tracks to femininity
purple for every woman who wore her hips like monkey bars
and her heart like a welcome mat to trample on
when the hatred is spread so generously across her breast
that she feeds this to every “no good man”
she can’t deny a place between her legs
for every tire streaking soot of alcoholic footprints
leading to 24 hour liquor stores
like “look how easy this money is”
green for all the trees whose winters are too brutal
to change from the boo-boo brown of its community
not when hope still hangs it’s strings in the crack filled streets of Harlem
where faith whispers it’s goodbyes to chains and locked doors
the ones with concrete style floors
and bronze heavens
and every prayer is polluted with “I told you so’s”
for every struggle
just remember
that the sun still has the courage to rise in the mornings
which means that the day still has the audacity
to be beautiful…

Psa 3:5 “…weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”