Doug Wilson continues his series of excellent counsel to those who want to learn to write better.
In this installment he expands upon this advice:
Read. Read constantly. Read the kind of stuff you wish you could write. Read until your brain creaks. Tolkien said that his ideas sprang up from the leaf mold of his mind. These are the trees where the leaves come from.
Here’s an outline of his seven points:
- The first thing is that writers should in fact be voracious readers.
- Read widely.
- Read like a reader, and not like someone cramming for a test.
- Read like a lover of books, and not like someone who wants to be seen as knowledgable, or well-read, or scholarly.
- Pace yourself in your reading.
- As a general pattern, read quality, and go slumming occasionally to remind yourself why quality matters, and what quality is.
- Read boring books on writing mechanics.
Read the whole post for an elaboration of each point.
Related: Trevin Wax posts one of my favorite quotes on reading—from Spurgeon on the Apostle Paul’s request to bring him his books.
