Welcome, October! My favorite month, full of golden sunshine, brilliant leaves crunching underfoot, and crisp, cool weather. (Now watch, it’ll start raining as the gods smack me down for my optimism.)
I also love Halloween, the least stressful of the winter/fall holidays. No one expects you to cook anything or spend money on gifts. Just slap up some tacky decorations, stock up on candy, and you’re good to go. In fact, Halloween in the U.S. oozes tackiness. We roll around in it like dogs in stinky dead things. Can’t wait to drape my porch in fake cobwebs and goggle-eyed spiders. What’s your favorite Halloween decoration? Do you favor gore or cute/funny?
This blog hop at the Insecure Writers Support Group is co-hosted by Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Mary Aalgaard, Madeline Mora-Summonte, and Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor! Thanks to them, and to Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh for this opportunity to kvetch, commiserate, and prop each other up. May their trick or treat bags be stuffed with their favorite sweet treats.
This month’s question: It’s been said that the benefits of becoming a writer who does not read is that all your ideas are new and original. Everything you do is an extension of yourself, instead of a mixture of you and another author. On the other hand, how can you expect other people to want your writing, if you don’t enjoy reading? What are your thoughts?
Are you freakin’ nuts? It is impossible to be a good writer if you don’t enjoy reading. The very idea is preposterous poppycock, bombastic balderdash, ridiculous rubbish, and mush-brained madness!
Yes, there are other ways to present a story. You could create a film, though someone’s going to have to write a script. You could sit around a campfire and spin an oral yarn—an excellent choice for this spooky season. You could make sock puppets and act it out. But if you don’t love to read, if you don’t have time to read, if you don’t soak up the best in your chosen genre until you perspire concentrated story goodness, your writing will lack the skill and flair necessary to deliver a bookalicious reading experience.
As for originality, I think Mark Twain said it well:
“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.”
Give me and my writing buddies the same prompt, and you will not get the same story. Even if we’ve all just finished reading the same book. Our respective experiences and voices create different tales, even if the framework is the same.
Reading the best authors in my genre is the most important part of my education as a writer. I hope you agree.
Hi,
Yeah for Mark Twain because I so agree with him. There is no such thing as a new idea. There is nothing new under the sun. Everything was here before we got here. So a writer that doesn’t read is cheating him or herself.
Have a lovely October.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat G @ EverythingMustChange
Yes, yes, yes, and YES. To all of this. I referred to this absurd notion as ‘piffle’ on my own post…but you said it way better. LOL Love it!
Mark Twain is very wise! It’s not coming up with a new idea that’s important, it’s what you do creatively with the ideas already out there.
I love October too! My favorite Halloween decoration I had (no longer have it, sigh) was a bat the flew in circles. Tacky fun! (Came via Patricia Josephine’s blog.)
I love your autumn graphic! Crunchy leaves are one of my favorite things. And I must admit, I’d be thrilled if it rained.
All points spot on. This business about being “original” because one doesn’t read is preposterous. I can’t imagine life without reading – how narrow and dull my experiences would be. Reading is, in fact, what inspired me to become a writer, at a very young age.
I definitely agree. I love to read and I think reading shapes our ability to write and write well. There’s no such thing as an “original” writer unless that person lives in a cave by themselves without the internet, and then … would they understand the shape of a story? Probably not.
Yes, a writer who is passionate about stories and reading books would be a better writer.
Canadians must be tacky too. Same decorations outside in my neighborhood.
Anna from elements of emaginette
I adore creepy, scary Halloween. Before we had kids all the kids on the street were afraid to come up to our house. Now that we have kids, I’ve had to tone it down considerably (can’t have my own kids afraid of their own house). Give me a couple years though, we’ll work our way back up to it…
Oooo…good post. And I love the Mark Twain passage. So true!!!
Yes – and that’s a good point about originality. You can’t be truly original if you don’t have enough material to work with, so actually, reading broadly makes you more orignal!
It probably comes as no surprised, but my favorite Halloween decorations have been funny ones. I’d rather make the kids laugh than scare them.
I suppose it’s possible that some people who don’t read could consider themselves to be writers, but I doubt if what they produce is something people who do read have any interest in reading.
UGH! Make that… no SURPRISE. (doh!)
I absolutely agree 🙂
The Mark Twain quote is so true.
Enjoy your pumpkin season.
Freakin’ nuts! You said it so well.
Yes, Halloween is rather tacky, isn’t it?
Halloween is the best holiday for sure!
That Mark twain quote is spot on.