This is an interesting topic I saw brought up a lot on the forums, that is, when I was doing forums. Since I published under my real name, I have since stopped participating in writers’ forums in general. I’ll have to post about some of my experiences within the writing forums and why I made this decision in another post, but for now I want to talk about the topic at hand.
I was surprised to see that there are a lot of writers who get pissy if you say: I don’t want to read that story yet because I’m afraid it will unduly influence my own writing style. To say it’s possible that if you’re reading something similar to what you’re currently writing that it might unduly influence your own writing style or story telling ability, is considered by many posters to on the forums to mean that you’re ignorant and/or a bad writer. For me I don’t see what it matters one way or another if you feel this way, but for many obviously it does mean something to many writers from the responses I’ve seen to this repeated topic on the web.
For me, I am of the mind that if I’m writing something similar to what I’m reading, I do feel like it could unduly influence the formation of my own stories and scenes. Although I have my own particularly strong writing voice within my stories, most of my writing skills comes from reading my favorite authors throughout my life. Well between that and my own inner voice and logical thought process. Most of what I look at in digital art, play in computer games or read all merges into my own thoughts and dreams to help form my stories and plots lines. A good example of this for me is Game of Thrones. I was just starting to write the scenes with the Werewolves in Shadowfang’s Winter Heart when I started the first book of the series. Instantly upon the first couple chapters I felt myself struggling to picture the specific parts of the story as conflicting mental images of what I’d read earlier interrupted my thought process. It was too fresh in my thoughts to be writing something that was of that same magical archaic land in deep snow with large wolves. I stopped immediately and just stayed away from the series until I’d finished Flight.
Now if you’re not one of those writers who have this problem, then good for you. Bravo for being able to keep your thoughts separate. At the same time, the rest of us do not need to hear any chortling about how awesome you are and how much the rest of us suck for this difference. It’s crazy what people bash each other for online. Don’t even get me started on the whole issue about using a word processor to write your story or not using a word processor. Heh, that sounds good for another blog post =D
Anyway that doesn’t mean that after I finished the magical / archaic land part of my story I didn’t start checking out Game of Thrones, because I did. What a freaking incredible story line. For those who are fans check out the Youtube link below for Honest Trailers, Game of Thrones.
Lastly, I’m still struggling to get any time to do much other than move my organizations two primary HQ buildings into its new location and continue keeping up my regular IT Support. This week I’m doing multiple fourteen hour days, if you count going into work when it’s dark and leaving work when it’s dark a day. Although this week is worse than normal, I’m still making time for writing and blogging. Anyway, until next time.
I was surprised to see that there are a lot of writers who get pissy if you say: I don’t want to read that story yet because I’m afraid it will unduly influence my own writing style. To say it’s possible that if you’re reading something similar to what you’re currently writing that it might unduly influence your own writing style or story telling ability, is considered by many posters to on the forums to mean that you’re ignorant and/or a bad writer. For me I don’t see what it matters one way or another if you feel this way, but for many obviously it does mean something to many writers from the responses I’ve seen to this repeated topic on the web.
For me, I am of the mind that if I’m writing something similar to what I’m reading, I do feel like it could unduly influence the formation of my own stories and scenes. Although I have my own particularly strong writing voice within my stories, most of my writing skills comes from reading my favorite authors throughout my life. Well between that and my own inner voice and logical thought process. Most of what I look at in digital art, play in computer games or read all merges into my own thoughts and dreams to help form my stories and plots lines. A good example of this for me is Game of Thrones. I was just starting to write the scenes with the Werewolves in Shadowfang’s Winter Heart when I started the first book of the series. Instantly upon the first couple chapters I felt myself struggling to picture the specific parts of the story as conflicting mental images of what I’d read earlier interrupted my thought process. It was too fresh in my thoughts to be writing something that was of that same magical archaic land in deep snow with large wolves. I stopped immediately and just stayed away from the series until I’d finished Flight.
Now if you’re not one of those writers who have this problem, then good for you. Bravo for being able to keep your thoughts separate. At the same time, the rest of us do not need to hear any chortling about how awesome you are and how much the rest of us suck for this difference. It’s crazy what people bash each other for online. Don’t even get me started on the whole issue about using a word processor to write your story or not using a word processor. Heh, that sounds good for another blog post =D
Anyway that doesn’t mean that after I finished the magical / archaic land part of my story I didn’t start checking out Game of Thrones, because I did. What a freaking incredible story line. For those who are fans check out the Youtube link below for Honest Trailers, Game of Thrones.
Lastly, I’m still struggling to get any time to do much other than move my organizations two primary HQ buildings into its new location and continue keeping up my regular IT Support. This week I’m doing multiple fourteen hour days, if you count going into work when it’s dark and leaving work when it’s dark a day. Although this week is worse than normal, I’m still making time for writing and blogging. Anyway, until next time.
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