Advice for Writers: Read 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈

Back in college, a writing professor advised us creative writing students to “read everything” if we wanted a career as an author. She didn’t just mean read everything in our genre or genres of choice, she meant read widely across genres.

That was preaching to the choir for me since I’d been a catholic reader from grade school on: biography, history, natural science, short stories, science fiction, novels, crime fiction—even memoir, though I didn’t know to call it that. If the writer told a good story, I was hooked.

My mentor might have been quoting or paraphrasing Faulkner. In 1947, speaking to English Department students at the University of Mississippi, he was asked “What is the best training for writing? Courses, experience, or what?”

Faulkner’s advice was “Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out the window.”

I wouldn’t go as far as throwing bad books out. You can learn a lot from books that don’t work and sometimes more than from books that do. Why? Because the flaws and failures are so clear. It’s easy to see how the author didn’t hit the mark and work out how you can do the opposite.

Now I know that Fifty Shades of Gray has been a monstrous financial success, but as fiction, it stinks. The characters are thin and the prose is often ridiculous. Here are some prime examples:

“I moan into his mouth, giving his tongue an opening.”

“I have a serious case of the butterflies. They are flourishing in my stomach.”

“My subconscious has reared her somnambulant head.”

“My body quivers, bows: a sheen of sweat gathers over me.”

“My subconscious has found her Nikes, and she’s on the starting blocks.”

“My inner goddess glares at me, tapping her small foot impatiently.”

“I know that lurking, not very far under my rather numb exterior, is a well of tears."

“He kisses me passionately, forcing my lips apart with his tongue, taking no prisoners.”

“My subconscious is staring at me in awe.”

“I glower inwardly, walking away.”

And the sex scenes that people have talked about ad infinitum are really hilarious because as one workshop student of mine complained: “The geography doesn’t make sense.”

Books like that can be valuable and instructive, and they’ve taught me to be clear, focused, and always remember to treat my readers with respect. Should you read Fifty Shades of Gray? Why not, even if all you want is to laugh?

Lev Raphael has taught creative writing at Michigan State University and edits, coaches, and mentors writers at writewithoutborders.com. He’s the prize-winning author of twenty-seven books in genres from memoir to mystery. Lev’s fiction and nonfiction have appeared in fifteen languages. He’s published 70+ personal essays and short stories since the height of the pandemic and is currently working on a family thriller and two new essays.

Image by Gundula Vogel from Pixabay