I’ve always read a lot. That seems to be the case for a lot of writers, that they were avid readers first. But since I began to write and publish my work, I’ve been reading much less. Part of it is that I’ve tended not to read other fiction while I’m writing a book – so, I’ve read non-fiction only while on deadline. This is because I haven’t wanted to unintentionally pick up ideas from other authors. And so, as publication schedules have accelerated, and I’ve been working on a book pretty much all the time over the past couple of years, my reading time has diminished to just about nothing. I like having lots of deadlines, but I miss reading.
And my TBR pile is ridiculously large.
I have a few author friends who read avidly even while writing, but that’s not very common. Most authors find that they read less as they write more. It seems to come with the territory. The typical solution is binge-reading – you have two weeks between delivering a work and beginning another and you read like crazy. This is less than an ideal way to appreciate books. When I read two a day, I get them muddled up a bit. I like a bit more time to savor stories.
My fiction reading tends to be market research. As an example, when I first thought of writing Zoë’s story as a YA trilogy, I wondered whether that could even work. I read a bunch of YA titles in rapid succession, which gave me some ideas of how to structure the trilogy for that market niche. After my editor loved the idea and the house bought the trilogy, I read a ton more YA. But once I started to write Zoë’s book, I put all those books aside, in order to focus on creating my YA. That’s a characteristic reading pattern for me – but it isn’t one that deals with all the books in the TBR pile that just looked good to me.
This January, I decided to try something different. The TBR pile is knee-high and all over the floor. I needed a new scheme. The idea was that I would only read fiction from a different genre or sub-genre than what I was currently writing. I had no idea whether this would work, or whether it would muddle my thinking about my current work-in-progress. If the experiment didn’t work, the TBR was going to have to have a hard sort. It’s ridiculous having so many books and no chance to read them, so I was willing to try.
Well, it’s working! In January, I was finishing Zoë’s second book. A YA. I read Karen Marie Moning’s DARKFEVER, an urban fantasy with romantic elements. I read Jayne Ann Krentz’s Amanda Quick title, THE PERFECT POISON, an historical romance with paranormal elements. (It’s really interesting how she’s tying together her three writing names with one series, The Arcane Society. I like that idea a lot.) Then I began to write the next Dragonfire title, a paranormal romance. Since beginning the writing of that book, I’ve read Brunonia Barry’s THE LACE READER, a women’s fiction title – this one went on my keeper shelf. I really liked it. And I’ve just tucked into Deanna Raybourn’s SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY, a romantic suspense.
This is great! I notice I’m reading more slowly as I’m starting a new project. This makes sense as I always know the end of the book, even before I start writing it. Writing the last quarter of a book always goes really quickly for me, because it’s planned in some corner of my mind. It would make sense that I could read more in that phase than when I’m still meeting my characters and learning how they’ll interact. There are some days when I just need to focus on my own story. Even reading slowly, though, is better than not reading at all. Ha! I’m so excited.
Do you have a reading scheme? What have you read lately that you’ve really enjoyed?
Deborah Cooke: Author 
14 responses to “A New Reading Scheme”
I am writing reviews for Freshfiction.com these days (29 reviews in January alone).
I have good-brain days and foggy-brain days, and my reading and writing scheme has to follow that pattern.
On medium-foggy days I read as much as I can, and write rough drafts, then the first good-brain day that comes along I polish and submit as many reviews as I can (I think 7 submissions in one day is my record so far)
I also help out when a last-minute review is needed, and I devote part of the first day to reading and rough drafting, and the second day (if it is clear brain time) I polish and submit. If the next day is foggy, I persist and write the review, but it takes all day and sometimes goes a sentence or two at a time with frequent breaks.
Freshfiction has a copy editor so I know if I mess up a bit she is there to catch me. So far it is working well, although I have nine rough drafts at the moment waiting for my cold to get over with. I visit them once a day and work on them, but they are not completely polished yet.
I am going to be devoting one day per week to writing my own fiction as soon as my backlog of reviews is done.
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Wow Diana. 29 reviews in a month! And you can’t write the review without reading the book. I’m in awe.
No surprise that we have similar tastes, Deb! Have you read Deanna Raybourn? I’m loving this book – it’s the second in the series, but stands on its own.
d
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Hi Deb and great that you found a way to enjoy reading again. And btw, great minds and all that, but Karen Marie Moning and Jayne Anne Krentz are two of my other favs.
My problem is a lot like Diana’s up above. I get so many pre-pubbed books to review that my pleasure reading suffers, it’s also a good thing that most of what I review I would pick to read anyway. I also moderate B&N.com General Fiction book club and we feature a book a month to discuss, plus my in-person book club, plus that nasty habit I have of eating that makes it necessary to have a full time job.
I have a few genres that I love, a few that i like but not many that I won’t read. I always need if not the HEA, then the possibility or hope of one. I don’t usually like non-fiction although I have been pleasantly surprised a few times.
Have a good weekend Deb and everyone
Deb
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The reading part was easy :-}
Before i started writing reviews I read almost as much as I do now. It is one way of keeping out of trouble. I learn a lot by reading the genres I am interested in writing, also.
Even books in genres I usually avoid occasionally need to be reviewed asap and I volunteer. Sometimes they are as hard to get through as I imagined, but sometimes, the best times, they open my mind to new authors I would not have considered before.
It is an interesting challenge to write a positive review of a book I didn’t enjoy. I need to determine if the writer did a good job, and describe the book accurately, not drone on about why I dislike the genre. It is sharpening my writing tools! Even a well-written book with an ambiguous ending is one I abhor, but it doesn’t mean it is a horrible book, just one I hated reading.
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I’m still impressed, Didana – and doubly impressed that you distinguish between the quality of the book and your reaction to it. Well done!
d
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Reading genres is cyclical with me. I find myself reading less romance and craving thrillers more.
Or womens fiction. Crime writers. Even the odd history book that might catch my eye.
As for it interrupting my writing, it’s not. No writing to be found.
I’m tickled your getting reading in. Now I have some titles to check out.
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Kristen – Sounds as if you read like me. I have such a variety in my TBR. It’s usually the covers that tempt me, and I wander all over the bookstore, just looking.
d
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Hi Deborah,
it’s been awhile since I’ve come by to comment. Glad to see you’re doing well and have conquered the one thing you seemed to want above all else; to read and write. I like your theory about choosing a different genre. I’m writing something set in 18th century Scotland right now and I won’t look at anything fictional from that period. Which of course leaves me with plenty to read 🙂
Have a nice weekend!
Eva
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Well, hello, Eva! How nice to “see” you again. I hope your writing is going well.
btw, if you want another workshop fix on the romance genre, check out my workshops tab – I’ll be teaching a full day at the Toronto RWA chapter in January 2012. It will be at the same North York Central library branch, I think. It would be wonderful to see you again and hear about your progress.
d
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Thanks for the invite Deborah!
Wow, I read that and can’t believe how organized the Toronto RWA is. Someone is a really good scheduler! I can’t plan that far ahead right now 🙂 But it does sound great and I’ll keep it in mind!
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LOL Eva – they ARE organized. I just about fell off my chair when they asked last month. But it’s a date and it will be fun.
d
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I have 2 TBR piles. My review pile and my personal pile. ARCs come first and at times I feel like I’m neglecting the books I buy but when I do read one of my personal books I feel bad because I should be reading the book I promised a review for. Maybe you can help Deb. After you send a book out for review, what is an acceptable amount of time for someone to read and post a review?
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Well, Stephanie – when I send out a book for review, I want that review immediately and I want it to be great! In the real world, though, things do take some time. Publicists generally expect reviews to post around the on-sale date for a book, independent of when they send it out. I think it’s good for reviews to be early. Traditionally, the idea was that people could forget that they wanted the book by the on-sale date if reviews were too early, but with all the pre-order options out there, I don’t think that’s as much as an issue as it used to be.
Are you telling me you haven’t read DARKFIRE KISS – YET???????
lol – you knew I had to razz you about that. 🙂
d
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Thanks! And no I haven’t read Darkfire Kiss yet!! I’m trying to be good and wait till it gets a little closer to the release date. If I read it now I’ll have to wait FOREVER to talk to someone about it 😀
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