When Writers Read

When you become a writer, something subtle and irreversible happens to the way you read.

Books stop being just stories. They become constructions.

Sometimes this a joy. You notice the elegance of a sentence, or a phrase doing the heavy lifting. You see how a chapter ends with a hook, and how a character’s choice echoes something planted a hundred pages earlier (and maybe you give a little cheer!).

Most of all, you recognise economy. Restraint when describing things. That's when reading takes on the feel of watching a magician from backstage and still being delighted by the trick.

Other times, the opposite happens. The seams show. A flat metaphor irritates the heck out of you and the flaws feel louder than they should. Especially when it's a book from an author whose titles number in the dozens. WHAT ARE THEY DOING?

Once you’ve written a novel - once you’ve dragged a story from nothing to 80,000 (ish) words inside the boundaries of a chosen genre - you can’t unknow what you’ve learned.

You know a little about structure and have attempted the basics of pacing. you know that a characters has to have an arc, and the story has to have one too, even if you haven't quite figured out the perfect way to deliver that in your own writing.

You know how much work goes into a single “effortless” chapter.

I thought, as a writer, I'd read more generously. But actually, it's the opposite. If I, as a novice, can see your flaws, you should be upping your game. Who is editing, who is proofreading? Who is holding you to account - if not a reader with my only slightly-elevated expectations?

Most harshly, I consider that an author of 50-plus novels who still exhibits fundamental flaws has fallen into the 'lazy' category. They'll still reap the paycheck, they'll tow along a loyal readership.

But, when storytelling is truly an art, where is the joy in that?

Where is the allegiance to the art form?

Reading becomes a conversation with yourself and, once you've become a writer, it's harder - much harder - to just surrender to what comes off the page.