Writing: To Read or Not to Read in the Genre You Write

This is for Day 4 of the Author Blog Challenge.





How do the things you read impact your writing? What do you love to read? What do you avoid reading at all costs? How would your writing change if you read more of the things you typically avoid?


I'd like to think that the things I read help to broaden my vocabulary and my knowledge of different places, vernacular, customs, history and more. Finding things I love to read helps me to find different styles of writing and different voices that I enjoy.


I read everything, from how-to books to romances to paranormal to science fiction to horror to historical to fantasy to literary fiction to...well, you get the idea. I read it all. But I will readily admit that, lately, I gravitate more toward paranormal and YA. This is probably because whenever I sit down to write, these are the genres that come out of me. I read them more frequently now with my own stories always in the back of my mind as I read. It helps to see what works in the stories I am reading and what doesn't.


I have never limited myself as to what style or genre I read, so I don't think there would be much change to my writing by reading other genres. In fact, I have never avoided reading anything specific. I suppose, as in most cases, the more variety a person reads, the broader their knowledge base is when they sit down to write.

If you were to ask me why I am drawn to stories in the paranormal genre, I would have to say that maybe it is because I like to escape. Reading about fantastical worlds and powerful beings is so far from the reality of day to day life that it provides a fascinating and fun escape. And because the paranormal has so many different aspects to work with, there are no limits to what I can write about within the paranormal world.

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