Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan
Not for me: I learned from reading everyone else's work while honing my own. If I was going to pick particular writers, I might go with Arthur C. Clarke and Lester Dent, who taught me two extremes of writing that I try to meet in the middle.
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That's interesting. Because while I read loads of books it is only very recently that I've been able to actually see how they do achieve the effects I admire so much. I still don't read other people's work as a process of conscious learning, I just try and try and try to write with skill. How to books make sense but they don't help either.
When I'm 'in the zone' so to speak, I actually prefer to stop reading things by other authors until I've exorcised whatever it is that's burning up my synapses that week. However, once I've finished writing a book it may be six months of chilling out, reading and listening to music before I want to write again or before another idea floats to the surface. I used to use that time painting but the artistic creativity gets sucked into other stuff these days.
A friend sent my book to an agent and in his refusal letter he suggested "a book in a year" which I have thought I'd read.
Cheers
MTM