Writing Novels while Reading Novels

Question

"I read somewhere that it is not a good idea to read novels whilst writing novels. Is there any truth to this?"

- Tess Kent, UK

Answer

Yes, there is some truth to it. Writing novels at the same time as reading novels can be a dangerous mix. But, as I will explain, there isn't actually a whole lot us writers can do about it!

Every time we read a piece of fiction, we can't help but pick up the writer's style - their use of language, their pet words and phrases, their preference for stark prose or elaborate prose, and so on. This usually happens subconsciously, but it happens nonetheless.

Having absorbed elements of this writer's style, the argument goes that we can't help but reproduce it when we sit down to write a novel of our own. Hence the advice to keep our reading and writing separate - writing books for six months, say, then reading them for the rest of the year.

The problem, of course, is that most writers are avid readers - telling them to lay off their favorite drug for a few months simply isn't going to happen. Similarly, writers like to write, and preferably every day if they want to stay in shape.

My advice, then, is to ignore the advice! I am not totally convinced that we subconsciously imitate other writers, anyway - not to any great extent. Our writing voices are largely the product of every novel we have ever read in our lives - the influence that the novel we happen to be currently reading can have upon this voice seems to me to be minimal.

But to lessen this slight possibility of subconscious imitation, you can do what I do - have several books on the go at once. It might be possible to imitate one novelist's voice when writing a novel of your own, but not when you have ten voices speaking to you all at once.

Hope that helps.

Harvey