A few posts ago, my colleague wrote about inspiration. What he didn’t mention, was the inspiration of reading. He didn’t mention it because he doesn’t find it inspiring. However, for me, it’s one of the best ways to get my creative juices flowing.
People like to use the term ‘voracious reader’, but only so far as it extends to reading books – the classics, Anna Karenina, Little Women, Shakespeare; but when I was delving into sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, everyone said I should expand my tastes. After a bit of resistance, I tried.
Nothing beats your preference, but there are things to be said for reading anything and everything.
Every single scene has to have an impact, every chapter has to end with a bang, and everything is geared towards build-up and audience retention
For example, I read a lot of self-published Amazon kindle stuff. It needs an editor badly, and breaks my heart that they didn’t find us before going to print, but it inspires me to notice mistakes in my own writing, and to get our services out there to those who think they can’t afford an editor. I read stories on Wattpad and other sharing platforms like it, where the writers artfully manage their audience by dosing them with a chapter a week. It’s such a different way of writing: serially. Alternatively to books, every single scene has to have an impact, every chapter has to end with a bang, and everything is geared towards build-up and audience retention.
This format isn’t unknown to the arts industry; comic artists have been releasing work this way for decades, and it hasn’t changed. I am a proud member of the Webtoon community, having read manga and comics for years. I didn’t know the platform existed, but it offers both budding and successful (through Webtoon Originals) artists to publish their work and build an audience. I love that every day of the week I have new chapters to read. It’s great to see the world through the eyes of people who live across oceans from me as well.
Somehow it’s more infinite, quieter, and more frightening, not knowing what lurks in that gloom
I’m not begrudging manga their place in the world. Despite the lure of coloured pages, manga is incredible. It’s worth is finally blossoming with companies like Netflix making productions such as Gantz and Blame! (two of my all time favourite manga). But with an already visual medium turned fully visual, I feel like something gets lost. I will always prefer the endlessly expanding city of Blame!, dismal in black and white spreading across my page, compared to the 3D movie Netflix created. Somehow it’s more infinite, quieter, and more frightening, not knowing what lurks in that gloom.
Reading good and bad is inspiring to me. I’ve read a LOT of bad in my time, all published, and it helps me keep writing my books. The poorly structured stories, the bad dialogue, shallow characters, it all helps me grow. Understanding the bad, and what makes it bad, is how we can improve as authors. And that’s not to say that ‘bad’ writing is even that bad. Some people doubtless enjoy it, and no matter what I think, published authors should be proud of that. There is value to be had from all manner of literature. Even until the 2000s, comic book readers were mocked, and now it’s as normal as breathing. Everyone has different tastes, so don’t knock it ’til you try it.
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