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Reading Our Way to Great Writing
Before sharpening our pencils, what is already out there?
I asked ChatGPT for some famous quotes that illustrate the importance of a writer also being a reader. There were several from the prolific, and talented, Stephen King, but this was my favourite:
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
As an editor, and beta reader, I consume many online stories. I also read books and utilise Audible to absorb fiction. While reading/listening, I’m often struck with a turn of phrase, a pleasant rhythm of words, a cunning plot device or a twisting build of tension which will cause me to nod in admiration, and think, ‘I want to try that in my own work.’
Reading on Medium, if I want a story to stay with me, I’ll add it to my list: Posy Recommends. It’s there for anyone to browse and save, but for this teaser I’ll expand on what grabbed me and pluck some of my most recent ‘treasures’ out of the sparkling ‘hoard’.
[If that sounds like what a dragon would say, it is my Chinese sign, so it’s ‘on brand’.]
