As a writer, I read differently than most, or at least I try to. First and foremost, I read for enjoyment. If I am not enjoying something then it’s a chore, and if it’s a chore, it has a way of getting shuffled onto the back burner, and things on the back burner tend to get knocked off the stove and into that nether region behind the stove of which we do not speak.
In that way, I read like most other people, to have fun. But I am also reading to learn. When a scene ends abruptly, I am taking notes on how they ended it. When two characters are fighting each other physically or even just with words, I am taking notes on all that passes between them. I am a student of the written word more so than I am a student of English.
English never really clicked for me. To be honest, it still doesn’t. Ask me to identify the predicate, and I can do that. Take it a step or two further, and I am liable to get lost. At the very least, I am not thinking about these things while I write or revise.
I know how words go together because I’m not just immersed in the language—everyone’s immersed in at least one language—I drown myself in it. I can tell you when a sentence is constructed wrong and I can even tell you how to fix it, but I can’t always tell you why it’s wrong. It just is. It just sounds clunky. I can tell you when I am breaking a rule, and I can tell you why I am breaking a rule, but I can also tell you when no rule is broken but the sentence, paragraph, or page still sounds like ass.
That’s what I love about language. There is a right and wrong way, but both camps are huge. Things can be right but still be wrong, and more importantly, things can be wrong, but still right. Writers have tried to write the unwritten rules of the English language, but they can’t. The only way to understand them is to read, not just a lot, but with care.
Quote of the Moment:
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons
Current Reads:
Sixth of the Dusk by Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson