2012-05-02

The lovely Lissa Bryan has already authored some spectacular lessons for the Writing Lab.  She's currently posting a new story, The Dark Goddess, is working on her upcoming novel Ghostwriter, and is running her blog (http://lissabryan.blogspot.it/). She also finds time to read (a lot!). So let's talk about

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What Do Writers Read?
By Lissa Bryan

I read EVERYTHING. If you walked into my home library, you wouldn't be able to determine a favorite genre, because I have - literally - thousands of books, both fiction and non-fiction, old and new. I have books on esoteric subjects like the history of catsup manufactures in the US (no joke) and Victorian hair jewelery. I'm the curious sort, and I'll find myself looking at an object, like a paperclip or something, and wondering who came up with the idea, and then I'm off to look for a book on the subject.

A few favorite authors:
Margaret George, Arthur Goldman, Colleen McCollough, Sharon K. Pennman (historical fiction), Alison Weir, David Starkey, Carolly Erickson, Antonia Fraser, (historical non-fiction), Jaquelyn Frank, J.R. Ward, Amy Lane, Larissa Ione (paranormal romance), Catherine Anderson, Beatrice Small, Margaret Mitchell (historical romance), Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, Phillip K. Pullman, (general fiction), Carl Sagan, Mary Roach, Susan Strasser, Stephanie Coontz, Andrea Tone (non-fiction).
In my opinion, reading has EVERYTHING to do with writing. The best writers are bibliophiles. As our mind devours each page, we're also learning the way to present a scene, to build up tension or foreshadow. Each writer has their own unique "voice", but just like a baby learning to talk, we learn by experiencing the voices of others.

The early works of Stephen King taught me how to make even a minor character come to life. With a single sentence, he could give them a personality. Emily Brontë taught me how to weave words to create a mood, and though I never quite mastered it, to make a single line into a poem. Hemingway (thought I never liked him) taught me that a description doesn't have to be effusive in order to be effective. Margaret George taught me how a fictionalized biography should be done in her magnificent Autobiography of King Henry VIII. I must have read that book twenty times and from her I learned how to make a historical figure come alive. From Arthur Golden, I learned how to introduce the reader to another culture, as he did so beautifully in his Memoirs of a Geisha.

And I also learned from authors' mistakes. Though I won't name them, there have been authors that have taught me how NOT to create a character and when it's time to end a story rather than drag it on until readers fall out of love with the characters and lose interest in the story line. Not to mention the number of historical novels that have gone unfinished when I reached my limit (admittedly quite low) for inaccuracies.

I'm still learning as I go. I don't believe any writer ever truly masters the craft; it's a lifelong journey, and if you're headed in the right direction, your work develops and improves as you go. Some authors fall by the wayside, and I think it's because they forgot that they're on the journey. They stopped somewhere along the way and pronounced themselves as having reached their destination, and they start producing the same work over and over again, with declining quality, sometimes falling into a sad state of self-parody.

I'm in talks with a publisher, so it seems I may be making the step into original fiction. I hope my readers will join me in the next phase of my journey. I'm not quite sure where we're going, but I'm betting it will be one hell of a fun ride.

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Thank you, Lissa Bryan!


As usual, your comments are welcome.
What do you read?
What have your favorite writers taught you? 

Lissa's stories: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/3300533/Lissa_Bryan
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13 comments:

  1. You've been a truly inspiring presence on the TwiFiction scene. One day, you were suddenly there with 'WITS', simply saying your life was too boring and you wanted to save our time by not babbling about it.

    You're a wonderful writer, but more importantly, you're consistent.

    I personally think that irregularity in writing (something I am afflicted with), is something that oft leads to the demise of a talent before it blooms.

    Your stories are legend and I wish you all the best for your original fiction publications. Let us know when the book comes out and we'll start lining up outside the book stores!

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    1. Thanks for you sweet comment!

      I agree, Lissa's stories are legend :)

      - Raum

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  2. Thank you so much for your kind words, KT8812. It's been a wild ride and my head is still spinning. I started writing on October 4, 2011. Six months later, I'm editing my first book. I still am not quite sure how it happened, and happened so quickly.

    I like this publisher. They're not asking me to take down my stories or to stop writing fanfiction. Someone said to me the other day that my stories would stand as a memorial after I'm gone and I said, "I'm going somewhere?" They were genuinely surprised I wasn't ditching the FF world.

    As I told her, how could I leave? This is the nest where I learned to fly. This community is the reason I got this opportunity in the first place. And I won't forget that.

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    1. You're too wonderful for words, Lissa!

      I do wish you all the very best, since you deserve it and much more!!

      I admire you very much!

      - Raum

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  3. Your comments remind me of a poster I keep in my classroom: "All readers are not good writers, but all writers are good readers." Thanks for an article I will be sharing with my students.

    P.S. I am a HUGE fan of your stories!

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    1. Thank you for your comment! That poster sounds great!

      - Raum (I'm a teacher, too :) )

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  4. Just as a suggestion, but if you're sharing my article with your students, you may want to take out some of the list of authors. Some of them are not suitable for underaged people.

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  5. As usual, Lissa, I admire your ability to sum up in a handful of words those concepts that are so difficult to express, and you do it so prettily, too. Although I still maintain that we're kindred spirits regarding the craft, I am quite amused to see that we don't read many of the same authors. lol

    My taste in books is also very eclectic, and I daresay our collections are similar in scope, although my husband made me thin mine out a few years ago and my books no longer number in the thousands. He likes a spartan house: I have no idea how we ended up married. Opposites attract, I guess.

    I have a lot of old poetry anthologies, a book on the plots of the great ballets, dream interpretation, Christian learning, histories, biographies, medical books, science fiction, mysteries,romances, art books,and a bunch of antiquated children's fiction. I must have a couple of hundred methodologies. I have books about words as well, for example, some providing descriptors pertaining to certain professions and activities.

    Some favourite authors include Dickens, Shakespeare, Austen, Leroux, Twain, Tolkien, Hugo, C. Bronte, Kipling, A. Christie, Robertson Davies, Margaret Atwood, Astrid Lindgren, Mary Norton, C.S. Lewis and L.M. Montgomery. More modern favourites include Anne Perry, Elizabeth George, Janet Evanovich, Alice Walker, Ellis Peters, W.P. Kinsella, James Clavell, Umberto Eco, David Baldacci, Stephen King, Gabrielle Roy, Alex Haley and Ursula LeGuin. I'm fascinated by Archimedes, DaVinci, nursery rhymes and fairy tales (especially by the Brothers Grimm). I'm also very fond of autobiographies, notably those of Carol Burnett, Sidney Poitier, Jimmy Carter, Leonard Nimoy, Mickey Rooney and Katharine Hepburn. Favourite poets include Rainer Rilke, Dylan Thomas and Maya Angelou. There! Assemble something out of that! lol

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    1. Hey there, Jmolly!

      Thanks for your comment! We share some faves, and I'm glad you like the Italian author Umberto Eco.
      Have you read his essay "Six Walks in the Fictional Woods"?

      - Raum

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    2. Thin down my collection?! My darling True Love would never dare to voice such a blasphemy. However, seeing that our home was nearing the point of danger of structural failure from the sheer weight of my library alone, he cleverly purchased me a Kindle and an external hard drive for my computer. Since then, all of my acquisitions have been in digital form.

      I only keep books I like or that have information I think I'll want in the future. Those that I dislike, I "release into the wild" by leaving them on park benches, in coffee shops, airport waiting areas, etc. Someone will find that book and love it.

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    3. I wish I'll find one of your books on a bench, dear Lissa!

      - Raum

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  6. Hah hah. You should have seen what happened as my kids outgrew baby books. My mother retired from teaching and literally sent over 10,000 kids' books to our house. They have almost all been given away now. I think the kids still have about 600 books of their own.

    I like your creative spots to leave books. Mine have gone to doctors' offices, schools, nursing homes and English Second Language groups at community centers.

    Anthony bought me a Kobo, which is similar to a Kindle, so I do buy more electronic books now. But I must admit to loving paper more: it just feels so good in your hand.

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    1. wow!!! 10,000 kids' books! A dream :)

      - Raum

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