Reacting to Your Unpopular Writing Opinions (from Kate Cavanaugh!) 

I kept waiting for her to say that. It's strange as hell, but there always seems to be a group of amateur writers who want to write a book but will do whatever they can to avoid reading them. Never understood it.

I have always thought the same. Like, it’s as if someone hates cooking but decided to become a chef or hates children but became an elementary school teacher or doesn’t watch movies but became an actor or filmmaker. It makes literally no sense. A lot of people I’ve talked to that hate reading or don’t necessarily read but write have only begun writing because they can’t visualize the story, only when they write they can visualize it. And I mean, yeah… I get that. I can’t visualize either. But I don’t hate reading. If I did, I wouldn’t be a writer. Some people just confuse me.

i don't remember any of the opinions state or even imply that they "don't like" reading novels. (on a side note, automatically assuming writing = novels is a bit funny to me.) some of those who put in their unpopular opinion might as well be fans of reading, too. we may never know. but the attitude/mindset that "you can't be a good writer if you don't read a lot" can be off putting for some people, even those who already read a lot to begin with. for starters, it disregard practice, skill building, and networking to get feedback. "you can't be a writer if you don't read" puts too much emphasis on the reading aspect and too little on the act of writing itself, imo. reading is definitely helpful for writers. but i also don't see enough of people explain _why_ it can be helpful. from my perspective at least, the way reading can help writers to be better at what they do is by learning how to structure a story (whether that's novel, short stories, serialised stories, etc), incorporate sensory descriptions to build atmosphere, setting the scene, etc. all those things require observation and actively analysing the thing you're reading. and THAT is the point that's missing. because a lot of people read for enjoyment, and people don't typically engage with their enjoyment _at that moment_ through critical lenses peeling back all the technical stuff that makes the finished product. it's like eating a cake to guess what ingredients it uses and how it's made. a lot of people eat cake just to eat it. so i can see why some people might feel like reading isn't a crucial requirement to be a writer (aside from the people simply put off by the saying, as i've explained on the second paragraph). if they began writing and reading solely for enjoyment, then it's easy to swap the reading part for any other types of enjoyment that still involves story. "you have to read to be a writer" isn't good enough if anyone wants to convince anyone to read more in order to be a (better) writer. they have to actually explain why and how reading can help build this other skill that's completely different.

So I've never had this opinion that "good writers don't need to read" per se but for most of my life, I didn't enjoy reading. I found books to be unengaging and spent more time in my own head imagining my own stories. Evetually, I got to the point where I wanted to write about the worlds and crazy ideas pent up in my imagination. It wasn't until this year (when I got goodreads and started editing my book lol) that I actually got into reading. I am still highly selective of what I read and pretty much will only read what is recommended to me but it's a start. Though I 100% agree that good writers need to read well written books. Just thought I'd share my reason for writing even though I wasn't into books :)

@@musickel3718 I also wasn’t a big reader either. I loathed reading when I was young because I couldn’t (and still can’t) visualize it. But after I read one book, I loved it and became a reader and a writer. However, I’m not an avid reader. I wish I was, but realistically, I only read a small handful of books a year because I’m slow. I actually didn’t start reading more until I was 19-20 years old (just a few years).

I’ve had a very similar experience because I love both reading and writing and don’t always have time or the ability to do both. When I get the chance to write, I feel horrible that I didn’t read for the day. And when I read, I feel horrible that I didn’t get to write for the day. But I’ve come to learn that trying to balance it can help, like reading 20 pages and then writing a couple hundred words can help make me feel better and more productive.

Stephen King mentioned in an interview that he reads four hours a day, and write wour hours a day. he reads not only in his genre, but in many others.

Far be it from anyone to make reading a chore but I think it helps to formulate notes on the books you have read. Like notes on plot structure, new ideas you’ve seen, interesting use of speech or description etc. Trust me you can learn so much from doing this, even to a limited extent. The genius of any literary work lies in the nitty gritty of its structure, trope and how it flows together. But we miss a lot of these gems subconsciously as we read.

💯

Agreed. You should be a fan of reading to learn the craft of writing. Its like trying to be a professional chef without ever actually eating food....

It's baffling that anyone could disagree with this. Also explains some of the terrible drafts I get from critique partners xD

It is theoretically possible, of course. But as had already been said, it's like cooking without learning how to read a recipe or watching professional chefs cook & talk to them about cooking.

I mean you can do anything without doing the pre-requisite - you don't HAVE to do anything to call yourself SOMETHING; The real quote could also be said as "You have to read to be a good/competent writer." You can write for a living which automatically make you a writer; but to understand, present and deliver information consistently, accurately and enjoyably, you have to read.

You have to write to be a reader

I see this opinion a lot in writer groups. And when those ppl post samples it's clear that they don't actually care about the craft, they aren't in it to be good writers usually. It's usually more of a bucket list or they think it's easy money. I'm sure there's some authors that maybe can do this, but I haven't seen one.

“I want to be a musician, but I hate listening to music”

Like you can improve your skills from watching shows/movies with subtitles on (which tbh still requires reading) but that only gets you so far

My god. We don't know what's more surprising. The fact you're so low functioning that you need to actually process the fact that you can gain everything from sources other than reading, or the fact you can't even put into word one single question. So much for reading making you a better writer if you can't even put to word one of those many questions.

That's complete nonsense driven by a delusion. Writers that don't read don't do it because everything you gain from reading can be gained through another source. The reason people that shit on writers that spend their time writing rather than reading are likely doing so because their ego is so fragile that the idea of someone not reading books being a better writer than them would likely crush their spirit.

@@evarchavex4800 Okay, then answer me this: Why on earth would you want to create something you hate? Yes, you can master the elements of story through other media. But there's a reason why books are different, and that's because they paint pictures of a world from the viewpoint that the readers cannot physically see. They pour feeling into little marks on paper, something that other media cannot do. It's like describing a movie to someone, all the while trying to get them to feel the same feelings you felt while watching the movie. You have to make them cry, you have to make them laugh, you have to make them notice the tiny connections and not leave out any detail. They have to feel like they watched the movie right along with you, they have to obsess over the characters like you did. But you cannot show them anything, and you can't drone on and sound boring.

I’m with you!! Total pantser. I experimented though and I developed a process where I do story dreaming/brainstorming beforehand, and then just do a core structural outline. Then I run it past my editor, so I create a cleaner draft. :)

I feel the same...outlining - or telling someone else about the plot - makes me feel like my story has even told, and then I feel like my work is done and up I lose motivation. I don’t tell other people about the plot ideas anymore.

I am a hardcore plotter, and I totally agree with you! I will always suggest a person try outlining first IF they’ve always tried pantsing but have never been able to finish a book. Then, sure, try plotting first - I even have a series of how I do it if someone wants to try. But if a person knows they work better as a panther, that’s great! They are just as good/valid/serious of an author as any plotter out there. It doesn’t matter how we write the book as long as we do.

I like the term "Adventurer" for those who write by just writing the damn thing and editing on round two. Literally some of the best writing I've done is by just following a random idea down the rabbit hole.

I like to Outline. I feel like it's a roadmap directing me to where I'm supposed to go...Doesn't always mean that I will follow that map to the tee though. Sometimes I'll take a right when I was supposed to turn left. I'll make a U-turn in places because...maybe I missed something, maybe I ran a red light and wound up running from the cops! Killed a couple of pedestrians along the way and pissed off a biker gang! I don't know! I was just exploring and wound up somewhere in the deep swamps of Mississippi when I was supposed to be going to Houston!! But, regardless of where I ended up going, I had fun along the way and hope all those riding in the car with me enjoyed themselves as well...Even though I probably should have taken that left at Albuquerque....

Yeah! It’s like, sorry I want to be successful in my chosen career?! Sorry I want to get paid for the years of hard work that go into writing?! What a ridiculous “accusation” to make.

Yeah I was surprised that people thought an author would be eager to see their work on film just because they want notoriety. I would LOVE to see my characters on the big screen! But in all honesty, I'd prefer people never know I'm the author because I prefer to remain anonymous lol

Yeah like...that's a pretty convoluted way to get into the film and tv industry by writing a book first like....

@@Starburst514 it's actually not far fetched tho. You can tell when a lot of writers are trying to go the Hunger Games route right off the bat. They write basic draft novels with "cool" concepts like your standard YA dystopia with the clear intention of having it be made into a movie. At least, that's what my many years in the workshop business have been like.

I would absolutely LOVE to write something that gets adapted to film...The only trouble I would have with that is the characters I envision would never look like the actors I casted originally to play them. Quite frankly, most of the time when I cast for character inspirations, I'm either using the younger versions of my favorite Hollywood heartthrobs that are now over 50 LOL or they are Sims (EA Games Sims 3 4ever!!!)

@@nicolefarmer2512 You know what's funny? I do not care whatsoever if my books get adapted into movies or TV shows, but I do think it would be cool to get a comic book or graphic novel adaptation because I can't draw whatsoever.

@@RyanStorey1231 i tend to think and draft in movie mode anyway... Is it time consuming to spend hours making a Sim to look like who my character is??? Create their house and neighborhood, friends, support characters? Magic systems? All in Sims 3 then when i sit down to actually write, 4 months have trailed by... I should probably get back to drafting rather than picking out custom content for my game lol 🤣 procrastination at its finest

I want to give a different take on this, I am a person with ADHD, and a lot of books are not written in a way that engages and keeps my ADHD brain focused on the material enough. I am a writer, I read graphic novels, and comic books, more often than I read big novels, but I am also inspired by movies, anime, and video games. I think there is a way in the writing craft to combine what makes those mediums engaging in writing format for the writing format. I don't necessarily always agree that just because someone is inspired by movies or video games that they should write a screenplay. I think that some ideas are universal and as a writer with ADHD I want to make books that are engaging to a reading audience who desperately wants to read a book, but the book is not geared towards the way their brain latches onto things.

@@JeanPKlaus I relate to you on this. Although I don't have ADHD, I have been diagnosed with chronic depression and PTSD, and consequently, my brain and body work a lot slower and just differently now than it did back in my childhood and teen years when I was an avid reader. I still try to get as much reading done as I can (using audiobooks, mostly), but it's significantly lesser compared to how much I write. It's not that I dislike reading, I love it and if I could, I would love to become my old reader self again. But I still want to write books (not screenplays) for myself because I still have a vast imagination and years of accumulated trauma that I want to unfurl and surrender to blank pages. I don't think that's a very taboo thing authortube puts it as. And I do feel that even in today's time, authortube isn't very inclusive of different people, especially the mentally disabled ones. So yeah, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Do your thing, wishing you all the success and good luck!

@@yuu_rei And to add to this: I see a lot of filmmakers and actors who don't actually watch a lot of movies because they're so busy being consumed by their own projects that they simply don't have time. Or musicians who don't listen to a lot of music in their downtime because they're too caught up in writing their own music. Or even RU-vidrs who don't watch a lot of RU-vid. It's not that they don't have passion for those mediums, but once you become a creator in a certain medium, you're so enthralled in your own work that it leaves very little time to recreationally enjoy the thing in your spare time.

@@RyanStorey1231 @k @Jene Clyde All three of you have captured reasons why I don't read as much as I used to and I thought I was just making excuses. I would like to start reading again, but I don't think I could ever read more than I create. My hyperfixation causes me to zero in on my own world/characters, so investing time into other people's characters (especially given how distressed I get when a character I'm attached to is suffering and I can't do anything about it) is incredibly difficult for me. I get being able to understand how other authors utilize words, but I feel like authortube can be really elitist with how harsh people are towards writers who don't have time/energy to read.

​@@RyanStorey1231That phase typically comes once you have career going, to get there you need to learn from and consume the art you want create (while practicing ofc).

Imo the validity of advice doesn’t have anything to do with how many books the person giving said advice has had published. Publication isn’t a credential to know things about writing

Pretty sure you are talking about Daniel Greene

@@ahmadabdullah9338 I was thinking Jenna Moreci

I definitely have the theory that more experienced or skilled writers are more hesitant to give out writing advice, especially prescriptive writing rules, because they know how difficult it is to give truly good writing advice…with nearly everything having a caveat or exception. And they don’t want that mess. Newbie writers are a little less likely to see the nuance around all those “rules” and more apt to throw out writing advice like good writing can be assembled like a piece of IKEA furniture if you only follow the directions. Pretty much the only straightforward writing advice that you can depend on without opening a huge discussion/debate is that writing a lot and reading a lot help you grow as a writer. And that’s pretty much what I see the most experienced writers say, without parroting a lot of the different writing “rules” you see litter so many craft discussions.

@@leech1355 Totally agree! I just think it’s interesting that less experienced writers are more likely to give advice online than more experienced writers. I’ve written 12 books and none have been published. I could give advice to new authors writing their first books, but would they rather get their advice from me or Alexa, who’s published multiple books? 🤣 Not necessarily a criticism, just an observation. ☺️

I hate it too, a lot of aspiring authors like their privacy and don't want to be on social media. However if they do I suggest sticking to RU-vid and do not ever go on twitter. Twitter is a toxic cesspool.

@Kylee Ollivierre yes I do agree as well. However if one needs to do social media to publish their book stay the hell away from Twitter.

@Kylee Ollivierre yes yes yes, I have seen the latest on a few videos and just the toxicity is just wow. If one values thier sanity they stay away from Twitter. Glad I’m not the only one who knows this.🤣

Something that is helping me is that I realized I don't have to be on social media in order to sell books, I can just make ads that will advertise the book for me. It does cost money but I've heard it works well for lots of self-published authors.

So true, fanfiction can be a great way to learn skills that can be useful in original writing, but at the same time there's a certain element where the challenges of each are just different. (We all know that being a good fanfiction writer that connects with an audience won't necessarily translate to being a strong/popular original writer, but the reverse can also be true. There's a certain beauty and art in making something within rules or limitations that were set up by someone else, and that's a skillset separate from playing within a world you build yourself.)

Very late to this conversation, but I’m currently writing a fan-fiction, however I’m writing it more as an olive branch from the original work rather than reworking what’s already been established? I hope that helps some way in being a fan while also trying to hone in plenty of skill!

People always say this but I genuinely want to know what titles you’re reading because every fanfiction I’ve ever read a03 or otherwise was bad, mediocre, or good for a fanfiction. I never read a fanfiction that was better than I book I currently have

@@dekxu6673 personally I find the MXTX fandoms to have some of the best written fics. I wouldn't say they're all better than the og content but the quality is 10/10 of some of them. And they're long too. I have lists of 100k+ fics that I've reread. If you've read SVSSS, TGCF, or MDZS I'd be happy to give recs

@@kloerose2474 I’m not into the fandom but I looked up some fics and I must say the quality is impressive. I see why people say this now lols

If you ever decide to go hybrid many writers keep an eye out on contracts and hire lawyers to help with such contracts in order to keep creative control over their work when they may purpose in the future doing a movie or tv show out of said book. If you publish make sure that is in the contract from the start, that way a producer cannot come in and take advantages of loopholes. Don't be afraid to be a B*tch or a** when it comes to contracts and your work. if a publisher isn't willing to accept the terms, move on, their not the right one for you. Good luck on your book!!!

It's not anything like either of those two situations you described and you'd have to be pretty fucking stupid and not understand writing as a concept to think they were. Everything you can gain from reading you can gain from another source. No matter how much you want to prove you're a snobby bitch that's deluded themselves into thinking they're better than a group of people, that fact won't change.

Hi! I’m actually the one who submitted the opinion on fanfics, and I really appreciate what you’ve said. I definitely don’t think I worded my opinion right, so whilst I completely understand Alexa’s point of view on this, it wasn’t exactly what I was going for. What you’ve said is basically my exact thoughts lol, and my opinion was mostly coming from a position of being ridiculed for writing fanfic when I put a lot of effort into it. Of course, no shade to Alexa, and thanks again for this comment! ☺️

The person who made that original comment of aesthetic over activity definitely has not been on the planner side of youtube... :'D

@@Lasikukka I was thinking exactly the same thing!

As a side note, I think the "first person is lazy writing" comes from old fanfiction customs pre-AO3/Wattpad. It was almost a taboo POV to write in and I saw more people tackle second person than first. Maybe because it felt weird for a character that was already written in third person or came from a visual medium where the audience is detached.

I have a film agent at UTA who shopped BB, but no dice on getting it optioned. She's shopping The Ivies currently.

@@AlexaDonne Well, then I guess I'll have a shot at optioning Brightly Burning in the future! (I imagine it in the vein of a German Expressionistic film.) Good luck with The Ivies!

I agree, I think it's the coach/player distinction - knowing how to recognize what needs to happen on the field is one skillset, actually playing it out on the field is another. Same with those who recognize what needs to happen to make good writing/storytelling vs those who can do it themselves.

Michelle do it!!!!

Abbie and Kate's channels are absolutely wonderful and incredibly helpful, full of information. Def my favs.

Same! 🤘🤙

I understand how you feel but your not a fraud, please know that. Plenty of people stopped reading during the pandemic and especially when life altering events happen. This past year and a half was no joke. Plenty of booktubers and author tubers and every youtuber out there and those just like you and me have stopped reading a lot of books. Theirs no shame in taking a break or not wanting to read as much, not having the money, or we are focusing on something else in our lives. I have a huge library of my own and I don't read as much as I used too like you, but that's okay. Also it's no ones damn business to make you feel like a fraud for not reading as much, It's asinine, They suck, just keep being you. As for the question you don't have to read to write books, no you don't have to read but it sure helps. Many author out there have never picked up a book in their lives and they've written amazing stories, If you want to write it should not matter at all how much you read.

For me conversely I've read books where the first chapter dragged and the rest was amazing (I usually give books a 4 chapter limit to catch my interest).

@Nina yeah I mean it's like saying I'm a musician but all music is 🗑 Is it really that hard to read though 😆

The "I don't have to read to write" argument is almost exclusive to books, too, and is laughable for any other medium. Imagine someone saying they wanted to be a musician but don't ever listen to music.

How do you not get it? because writing is a skill that one can improve through hard work. Reading is not. Are you really unable to understand why some want to write but not read? Which, by the way, there isn't a single detail you can get from reading that you can't get from somewhere else.

So what? There are other ways to improve in writing than reading. Oh yeah? Then list them. it's different for novels because novels are not constrained by the format like a movie this and it relies on the writers ability to understand plot, characters, and their language skills. All of which can be obtained through numerous different ways.