Undue influence: Finding Inspiration in my Winter Reads

Having a reading detox is supposed to help creativity but I wonder does it help your writing too?

All the times I have felt my creativity blocked, I have turned to reading. As well as setting a reading challenge and making time to read, I keep myself up-to-date by following my favourite book bloggers (see below). Reading is comfort and if you ask me to go to my happy place it would be a beautiful chair in a quiet cottage, blanket, coffee and a book.

I find it odd if I hear others say they don’t read at all. I have no idea how you survive without books in your lives. Apart from a week off for a detox, I am always at least trying to read something. Several things in fact.
But as I return to read this week, I do think about the influence what I am reading has on my writing.

As the dark night’s draw in and after the interview on the Spirits podcast I picked up Garth Nix Old Kingdom trilogy. They are books I have seen for years and done nothing more than admire the typeface. I have also started the next book in the Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden. I don’t know if both these books would be considered Young Adult (YA) and/or fantasy. I just love at tale with dark twists and turns. The Winternight Trilogy has the advantage of having the historical setting too, medieval Russia is cold and full of courtly rules which feeds my fascinations too.

I share what I am reading to recommend the books if you want to curl up in this cold weather but also to show how this influences me. I start to think of the spookiness of my setting and wonder if i should lean in to it more. I have been writing about a sickness in the trees and I can see how the richness of descriptions in the books I am reading at least inform my word choice as I write, if not the genre.

I also think reading can lead you to adopt a style. I know that the strength of voice of Jane Austen has informed earlier attempts of other books I am trying to write. That aloof and witty narrator is quite irresistible as one writes ones prose. It’s like you are hearing voices, and letting them tell you what to do. That’s the power of strong voice.

I find that listening to audiobooks I particularly take in a style or voice because I learn so well through aural input. Despite my negative thoughts about my ability I have found myself writing poetry in recent months. I find short lines and sharp turns a great way to throw out my anger. They are political and I don’t know yet if they will see the light of day. But I notice too that the cadence and search for internal rhyme is influenced by rap music. I do not of course claim to be rapping, I can just hear the beat in my head.

Should I read less?

So at what point do we see it as positive to avoid reading or even listening to lyricists in order to write?

I think first, there is no way to avoid influences. To stay relevant you need to know what is being published. To be a human of many experiences you need to read. But really if my work does swoop from high fantasy, to Austen via rap I probably have to question: have I found my own voice?

The search goes on.

If you enjoy great book reviews an recommendations, you can’t go far wrong with these women:

• I always trust recommendations from Book Bound
• Years of Reading Selfishly/follow her on Twitter too for great video reviews
• Book Rambler : I like the plans on WWW Wednesday, I don’t think I could ever be that organised about my reading
• Over on Instagram, more YA and fantasy suggestions from Rosie Trying To Read