people who like to WRITE also like to READ.. is this an accurate generalization?

I'm designing a plan for my blog, where I want to post articles on creative writing. I also really like to read books, and I was thinking of including a book component there as well...

..however, I'm not sure if I'm the only one like this. Will other people (if anyone will read my blog lol), who like to write, find the book component off-topic?

It is difficult to say. I would argue that I dislike both reading and writing. Neither process is especially enjoyable to me. I write because I want my stories told and I read because I want to know the stories.

I am more likely to admit to enjoying reading than writing, though that is because of my fondness of activities that I view as nostalgic. Certain things I have read (such as Dracula) have good memories tied to the actual activity of reading of them.

I am a labouriously slow reader and writer, though.

By book component, do you mean book reviews and book discussions? Because those can both be lots of fun, for both the writer and for commenters.

And in my experience, most writers I've met also like to read, so a book component on your blog will probably be perfectly fine. If you're concerned about it, then you can always limit the book-related posts to maybe 1 post a week (or however often, depending on how much you intend to post), so that readers who aren't there for the book-related posts can ignore it and get to the writing-related posts. And if readers start commenting on how they'd like more writing-related posts, or more book-related ones, you can tailor your posts to match.

You can also look at other writing blogs, and see how they do things. It might give you ideas about what works and what doesn't, and could be a good starting point for your own blog.

A writer that reads? INCONCEIVABLE!!!

Just joking! Actually, I think because I read so much, I got interested in writing.

I've always loved reading - my parents taught me to read when I was really young, I was reading Harry Potter at 6 (finished Order Of The Phoenix in three hours at the age of 8), and by the age of 9 I was writing my own short stories, poetry and attempting a novel (it didn't work out, but I read back on it recently and even if I do say so myself, for a 9 year old it wasn't bad at all). Enjoying reading DEFINITELY made me start writing :)

It's your blog. Put up discussions of cake and massive caturday spam if you want.

To me, saying you're a writer but not a reader is a bit like like saying 'I'm an artist but I don't look at artwork'. Yeah, you can come up with something but it seems to me like you're making things hard for yourself.

Well, yeah?

If you write but you don't read, how will you know what you want to write? How will you know what you consider good and bad?

I was a reader long before I started writing. If I didn't love books, I wouldn't write them. Most of my writing friends are also readers. We frequently discuss books and what's on the market. reading recharges me, and gives me ideas. A well-written book teaches me technique, how a book should flow. A bad book points out the importance of phrasing and when back story becomes an info dump.

On the professional side of things, I need to read to keep up with the current market and genre trends. Book discussions will often go hand-in-hand with discussions on lines, editors, agents and genre. Selling a book would be very hard if we weren't versed enough on the marketplace to know where to aim it.

I can't imagine writing without reading.

I've been a reader my whole life. As a little kid, the only way my parents could handle my reading habit was to provide me with a library card. When I started reading newer books and the price was getting too high, they started taking me to a used book store.

At some point I decided I liked writing, even though for many years I didn't do much about it.

I doubt if I ever would have considered being a writer if I didn't enjoy reading. I have no interest in golf, and therefore have never considered the idea of being a golfer.

I can say I've met some readers who haven't considered writing, but I have rarely come across people interested in writing that weren't also interested in reading. Not to say it couldn't happen, just that I haven't come across them yet.

There may be some people who have something to say and write a book about it. But they may be writing the book only because they have something to say, and not because they are a writer. Someone who doesn't like to read, can still put together a book on birdwatching or sailing, but he may just be a birdwatcher or sailor and not a writer.

But if someone is a WRITER, I would think they would have some attraction to reading.

My two cents.

I feel that statement is correct! I have read many many books before I tried my hand at writing my own. If I didn't enjoy reading, how would I be able to truly get a feel of my book once it's written? Sometimes the only way to get re motivated is to look back on a favorite scene and feel that magic again. A writer has to be a reader in order to write, but that's just my opinion.

I knew a guy who called himself a writer and claimed to enjoy reading, though he was adamant about not revising anything he wrote, and I couldn't name one book I remember hearing he read after his late teens.

I do think a lot of writers don't like to read, but in my opinion, there really aren't any GOOD writers that don't like to read. Pretty sure in Stephen King's book On Writing he says something along the lines of "read. everything."

When you get the blog up make sure to post the URL.

Well, this is kind of weird, but I kind of got into writing, I mean really, seriously, coming close to finishing large projects writing, when I started getting out of reading. It wasn't that I didn't like to read, though, it was that I couldn't find anything I wanted to read. I couldn't get past a few chapters, so I would write instead. But, now I've discovered the YA fantasy aisle at the book store (I used to always go to the Adult (but not mature) section for books) and all is again well with the world. :)

You actually sort of described my blog. Mine's mostly about my writing process, but I also post book reviews once or twice a week. I'm doing the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge, so once I finish a book, I post a review. Other than that, though, each entry is about either what I'm writing right then or about writing in general.

I would read your blog!

484 words for a grand total of 9589. It's a good thing I don't have anything else to do tomorrow.

Incoming heresy! I was first inspired to write by the stories of TV shows and video games. =p Written fiction never really came into it.

That said, I think there's truth to this. After all, if you don't read fiction, how do you get a feel for how to construct it? If you never pick up a story with the distance of someone who's never seen it before, and look at what works and what doesn't, what prose is good and what's terrible, and how different mistakes show up in the finished product, then how will you learn to identify issues in your own work?

But yeah, I'm a hypocrite in this area. I can tell that my own abilities are sort of stagnating, and I blame the lack of exposure to good examples of my craft. But really, aside from one series I eventually grew out of, I've never found a single book that was honestly a great read. I've read a small handful that were decent, but had large flaws that I couldn't get past. The others have pretty much all been disgusting, depressing and generally pointless.

(Spoiler alert for about half my local library's stock: first there's random violence, then there's obscene content that goes nowhere, then more violence while they kill off the only sympathetic characters. Then rocks fall and everyone dies. And then I stare in disbelief at all the cover blurbs that say, "WHOA MAN, THIS IS LIKE, SO DEEP.")

So yeah, I know that I need to read more. I know that it would probably drastically improve my skill if I did. But at some point I just sort of... gave up on finding anything good.

The vast majority of writers enjoy reading.
Okay, so there are some amateur writers who don't like reading. At my high school I met two girls who identified as "writers" but admitted that they hated to read. I read their stuff, and, to be honest, it sucked. I mean like take-it-away-oh-Gods-before-I-carve-my-eyes-out.
I find that the same applies to poetry. Back when I was a young lass, I hated reading poetry but loved to write it, and would churn out pages of the stuff. It sucked. Like kill-me-now-oh-please. Nowadays I come across a lot of poets, and those who like to read poetry tend to have the decent stuff, and those I meet who say they hate reading other people's poetry because it's boring but love writing their own tend to write the same sort of poems I used to - very boring, very cliche, very pseudo-dark, and very bad.

I've loved reading since I could get my hands on a book, and I've loved writing since I put pen to paper.

This generalization is indeed true for me. There are things that I just don't read, and therefore, just don't write, because those things just don't it for me as a reader or a writer.

Most writers enjoy reading, so I would definitely incorporate that into your blog. Personally, while I adore writing, I can't say I'm an avid reader. I *like* reading, don't get me wrong, but I've never been much of a fiction reader. I don't think I've read one novel in the past year or so. Mostly, I enjoy reading reference and true crime. My mom read to me every night as a baby, and I'm told I read books as a toddler... but although I have read fiction over the years, as soon as I learned how to write out the ideas in my head, that overshadowed everything else (I was about four years old when I started writing "stories").

When someone asks me what I like to do in my spare time, writing always comes first and reading is pretty much never mentioned. To me, they are entirely different processes and I really don't see why you HAVE to be an avid reader to be an avid writer. It's an association I see a lot and just plain don't agree with - while I don't deny it's very common for writers to be readers, I think they definitely can be mutually exclusive. It all depends on your reasons for writing.

@Brightdreamer: "Honestly, if you're writing and don't enjoy reading... why are you writing? This isn't working the cash register at McDonald's; it ain't gonna pay the bills unless you really, really, REALLY work your fingers off. Part of the writing process is reading what you wrote. So why do it if you don't derive some enjoyment from it?"

I'm writing because I have plots and characters floating around in my head, and I want to get them down on paper. It's primarily a way to immortalize the stories I want to tell. I do derive a lot of enjoyment from the writing process (moreso than I ever do reading a book), and for me, it has nothing to do with reading. I love seeing my characters come to life, I love developing their relationships and their quirks on the page, I like seeing the plot come together like pieces of a puzzle. I like creating - I strongly prefer creating my own stories to enjoying other people's creations secondhand. Of course, that's just me. For the record, I love going back and reading what I wrote, especially because it allows me to revisit earlier parts of my story that I haven't thought about in a while. I also love style and structure and all the mechanics of writing fiction, so when I reread I can think about how to make certain aspects better than they are currently.

@CaveatLector: "If you write but you don't read, how will you know what you want to write? How will you know what you consider good and bad?"

My imagination. That's the most honest answer I have for you.

@Bookworm140: "There may be some people who have something to say and write a book about it. But they may be writing the book only because they have something to say, and not because they are a writer."

I write for pretty much exactly this reason. I write when I have a story to tell. If you write a novel, no matter why you wrote it or how many books you read before writing it, that kind of makes you a writer IMO. A person who reads is a reader, a person who writes is a writer. They may not identify as a writer, but that's a different issue altogether.

As for those who say the only writers they know who don't particularly enjoy reading are amateurs and don't revise their work... well, if it helps give you a different perspective, my revision process for my current project took me almost a year and involved the following: getting word count down, eliminating inconsistencies and plot holes, making sure characters were consistent, doing additional research for fuzzier aspects, putting together a second draft, and gathering a critique team (three people got back to me with a full review in three or four days because they couldn't put it down). I'm now outlining again to start work on what will become the actual manuscript, after which there will probably be line edits, dialogue edits, and what have you. All I'm saying is I may not be an avid reader, but I know writing a novel is serious business. I've been working on this project for almost four years now.

Not to make another generalisation here, but people who don't revise their work are usually either very pretentious or very young and inexperienced with writing. Same goes for "amateurs". I know. I've been there. When I was a young teenager just starting out with serious writing, my style sucked, my characters sucked, my plot sucked, and I thought I could get a first draft published. I sent it in and everything. I now know, as many writers do, that writing is rewriting, and even after several drafts it's probably not going to be perfect! I think "good" writing has little to do with how many books you've read and how much time you've spent *writing*. IMO writing is 5% talent and 95% hard work. It's a lot of work but I'd take writing over reading any day.

(PS - I'm not trying to be a jerk to anyone or to call anyone out, just wanted to share a different perspective as I know I'm in the minority here.)

I'm attracted to stories in general--I always loved stories from the time I was little. I was the one that insisted on the bedtime story. I was the one that when she didn't get one would make one up herself. So I made up stories before I read--because really I couldn't spell that well. My earliest journals have fiction written in them.

I think if you're going to be a fiction writer you need to love stories dead stop. Doesn't matter the source. You can't say you are above movies because you write novels. But you can't at the same time say that you hate books because you write movies. You need to love stories so much that you can't do without them.

And you have to love them more than anything... because I think writing, plotting,. editing, being critiqued, publishing, etc is a process that is filled with a lot of hardships, but if you *love* your story *that* much and stories in general, you'll persist. You aren't going to live as a writer being a wimp and giving up. It really does weed out people. I die without writing. You want to see a nervous wreck--separate me from stories for a week.

That said, if you are in love with stories and writing, then writing about books and inspiration isn't off topic. It's very much on topic. That said the majority of what I consume is non-fiction--more than fiction. I spend the majority of my day with stories.

Just saying I fell in love with stories before I fell in love with reading. Oh and I have to mention my parents struggled to get me to read on my own. I hated it. But they bribed me and said I could get as many books as I wanted at the book store. So I started collecting and bought 100 dollars of books at one time until my parents choked me and said I had to use my allowance instead. I ran out of room for my books.

I read so many books that it became harder to find books that I couldn't predict the ending for. So I started reading the ending ahead of time, but then I could predict the middle. Then when I read author biographies I could predict how writers wrote their books. Once I could do that, the damned editor in my head wouldn't shut up. So I had to jump ship and read outside of the country. Now my writing is screwed (From picking up conventions from other countries), but my need for fiction consumption hasn't stopped. So I switched to audio so my editor's voice would stop. TT Avid readers don't seem to understand this dilemma... I think it's writing thing. Still, I consume tons of non-fiction too. Spent most of my youth watching documentaries/non-fiction. I read inside of the continental US either because it's a stellar book or because I'm doing market research...