Writers who Read Write Better!
A reflection on books and genres...
There was a phase after graduating college from my undergraduate program in which I stopped reading. And the worst part…I didn’t even notice!
When I was in college, I read a ton. I recall my studies as Seattle Pacific University as a whirlwind two-year program to study English. I had already completed the first two years of college in high school, thanks to the running start program that lets you take courses at the community college as a junior and senior.
Naturally, as an English major, I took plenty of literature classes, including a Tolkien class, a Shakespeare class, American Lit, English Lit, Old English Lit, poetry and plays, and more! I was so immersed in the required readings assigned to me that I didn’t have any time to read “for fun.” I was reading the assigned books in my course syllabi, and once I graduated with a degree in tow, I was frankly tired of reading. Tired of reading for the sake of taking a test or writing a paper. I had been reading not for an encounter, but for an essay. I may have learned a lot about literature and creative writing (my degree concentration), but I had forgotten the love I once had for reading for the sake of reading, for the sake of story.
When I was in high school, middle school, and elementary school, I read for fun all the time. I can recall staying up late under my covers with a reading light. I remember new books being on my Christmas and birthday lists each year. I loved The Skullduggery Pleasant Series by Irish author Derk Landy, a series whose first book came out in 2007, with a new release each year for the next seven years until 2014. After those nine books, I remember crying that the series was over. HOWEVER, this week, as I prepared to write this post, I learned that three years later in 2017, book 10 was published, and since then more books until book 15 was released in 2022. Looks like I have more reading to do in my childhood series after all!
I also loved The Sister’s Grimm series by author Michael Buckley, which also has nine books, as I am actually related to the Grimm brothers! Some of my other favorite books were The Magic Treehouse children’s book series, The Mysterious Benedict Society, and the Charlie Bone adventure novels. There were lots of other books and series too that I enjoyed, but these are some of the ones that come to mind. I loved these books because of the adventure, the magic, and the humor. I loved the friendships and loyalty between the main characters. Each of these books had some element of fantasy, and that’s what made them that much more compelling to my young mind. Years later, I still remember what these books meant to me, and how reading was an entry point into a new world beyond my wildest imagination.
During the pandemic, I returned to reading for fun and discovered just how much I had missed reading books for the sake of a good story. As an author myself, I realize just how important reading is for my development as a writer. And not just reading is important but reading in lots of different genres. Genres are a way to lump and categorize books together based on a common theme or narrative structure. Romance books are going to have love and romantic relationships; science fiction books are going to have futuristic medical or other technologies, perhaps even on other planets. Fantasy is going to have imaginary worlds or creatures or magic systems. Sure, we all have our favorite genres, those types of stories that naturally pique our interest more than others. Nonetheless, I believe there is a benefit to reading all sorts of genres, both faith-based and secular books, in order to receive the widest education on storytelling. From time to time, I like to branch out and read in genres I wouldn’t normally, and often I am pleasantly surprised by the results.
Though as a Christian author I realize all the many genres (both fiction and nonfiction) that exist of faith-based/faith-inspired work, and I am that much more motivated and rekindled to continue devouring books and enjoying storytelling. Already this year, I am on track to finish close to 20 books by the end of March! Being a voracious reader makes me feel like a kid again, and I find that my own writing is richer and that ideas come to me faster than they did when I was in my reading lull.
The life of faith is not made up of any one genre but encompasses them all. Perhaps areas of our lives can be categorized, but certainly we are more than the sum of the parts. Life is filled with intrigue, mystery, romance, adventure, and the everyday mundane. As I read the books that challenge my imagination and invite me to participate in the story, I consider the echoes of faith; I consider the ways the created worlds reveal to me my creator. For indeed, every story has this potential to reveal the divine (even secular stories), if we know where to look.
Perhaps it is in the unspoken longings of the characters or the ache and the groaning of a world not quite as it should be, that reminds me that the lives we are all living our stories in themselves, and stories where we are invited to take part, to listen, to learn, to grow. Ultimately, through any good story we are invited to be transformed into more than we thought we or others could be—transformed not just through childish adventure but childlike trust in a God of universal stories and possibility.