The Golden Rule for Becoming a Better Writer - T.R Napper

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I’m obsessed with the craft of writing. I write every day, I read about the craft often, and in my spare time I like to unwind by… watching interviews where authors talk about their writing process. It’s a sickness. Help me.

One of the key things I’ve learned is this: there’s no real blueprint. I say this to aspiring writers in my workshops, and those I mentor. There’s no one way – every writer will have a different path to creation. Now, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be listening to other authors, not at all – it’s a great way to help you think about the creative process – but it does mean nothing is holy writ.

King cites Blood Meridian, The Satanic Verses, and Huckleberry Finn as his favourites<br>Except the one golden rule* . One rule that is true, no matter the writer. One rule, that if you don’t follow, means you shouldn’t be writing in the first place.

Here it is: Read as much as you can. Read widely and well.

I would’ve thought the necessity of reading in this profession obvious. But I’ve noticed a worrying trend lately: aspiring writers who don’t read.

Whenever I give a workshop, or an occasional creative writing lecture at uni, or mentor an individual, I always ask the following questions: who are your favourite authors? And, what are you reading now? I do this as a short cut to finding out their interests, and how therefore I might frame my advice.

But over the past few years, more and more the answer will be: I’m too busy to read. Or: I haven’t read a book in a while (whereafter they rack their brains and tell me they might’ve read Fourth Wing a year back).

To which I say this: fuck you, you’re not too busy.

Joking. I would never say that. But I certainly fucking think it. Now, to be clear – I’m not dissing the Fourth Wing here. On the contrary: if Fourth Wing is a gateway drug to getting someone back into reading, then anyone who loves books should be thankful to Rebecca Yarros.

Sontag<br>But I am saying this: go look at your phone, and tell me what your average screen time is per day. Two hours? Five? Seven? If so – shut up: you’ve time to read.

I write full-time, currently work three gig jobs on the side, and am engaged with lives of my two children. I read every night. It’s not hard: instead of staring at my phone, or streaming, I read. This is not a boast, nor is it special. This is my job as a writer.

You want to be a writer? Then shut up and read.

Here’s why:

1) Reading teaches the writer about the craft

Every book is an education. Good, bad, mediocre, they teach us the writing craft. Even if we’re not studying the text per se, we’re learning. All the books you’ve ever read – especially the books you read when you were younger – have imprinted themselves on your brain.

It might be genre, character type, trope, setting, structure, anything, everything – you’ve habituated your brain to the patterns and elements of the novel. Certain writers will have a style that will appeal, and it is completely fine to emulate that style as you develop your own ‘voice’ as a writer (by voice I mean, the expression of individuality in your art).

When I began writing, I had some early beta readers say: oh, I see you’ve followed the classic three-act structure. To which I thought: I did? I didn’t know structure back then; I’d never taken a creative writing class. Yet my writing brain instinctively created one, because it had been informed by my life as a reader.

Ishiguro<br>In the years since, I’ve subsequently taught classes on three and five-act structures, and the purpose of structure in general. I’m not saying such formal classes are of no value, but I do tend to think they are overrated. The reality is, up until recent decades, ‘creative writing’ was not a degree in and of itself. The much-vaunted MFA is only a relatively recent phenomena. They might be useful for some, but ultimately are peripheral compared to the central importance of reading.

2) Reading inspires the writer

I love reading out of genre. The best ideas I get for science fiction don’t come from science fiction. Crime, for example – hardboiled fiction in particular – helped me better understand the origins of cyberpunk, its thematic core, and some of the stylistic possibilities of the subgenre. Non-fiction has given me an unending supply of the raw materials for story – whether that be current events, or history, or science, or philosophy, or anything else – and been a constant source of inspiration. Poetry, as a third example, has taught me how I might use words in an elegant way, and with the strictest of economy create an image, or a mood, or a feeling.

A book almost always has something to teach us – even if it’s how not to write.

Bradbury<br>3) Reading changes the structure of the brain

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