The "Well-Read Author"

Everybody says that the best author is the well-read author. But what does it mean to be a well-read author? Automatically images come to mind of a pious reader sitting in a pristine bedroom devouring literature like a washing machine devours socks – someone who strictly reads “the Classics”, who looks down on anyone who hasn’t read “the Classics”, who despises all literature not a part of “the Classics”. Is that image really what we should be aiming for as writers? Or is the true meaning of the phrase “well-read author” being overlooked?

My mom was big into reading. She felt that words were important, that they expressed beauty, emotion and wisdom like nothing else. And she was entirely right. She encouraged us to read on our own as soon as we could, gave us lists of good books, talked with us about them as we read. She also read aloud to us children all through our growing-up years (even after we ceased being children).

And yes, she read us some of “the Classics”. But her reading list wasn’t limited to Dickens, Austen and Tolkien. She also read us Mark Twain, every bit a classic despite being the polar opposite of Dickens in style. She read Lassie Come Home, The Borrowers, The Boxcar Children for heavens’ sake! She even allowed us girls to read a little romantic fluff on the side (the kind that wasn't all mush, mind you.)

Her goal wasn’t to load up our systems with only the great masterpieces published from 1899 or before. She encouraged us to also know our times, to appreciate comedy and tragedy, to take in a variety of authors, genres, styles, topics…In short, my mother’s main goal was to give her children a widely diverse and richly developed foundation in quality literature so that when we were no longer under her care we’d be able to tell a good book from a great book, an ‘okay’ mediocre book from a book whose best description, sadly, is crappy.

What am I trying to say here? That variety and quality are the key to being “well-read”. You can immerse yourself in “the Classics” and come away unable to write anything that a postmodern Young Adult reading audience would really get that much out of. You can go the other way and only read modern books. But in that case you cheat yourself out of the rich vocabulary, deep plotlines and superb characters of “the Classics”.

Best description of a well-read author? A writer who has a foundation of various author styles and genres, the kind of foundation that good writing is bound to come from.

So I have here a checklist of the things that make up a well-read author based on that description:

1. Has read a variety of books from different time periods (Ancient Classics as in the Odyssey, Norse Mythology, Fairy Tales, etc.; First Classics as in Milton, Spencer, Bunyan, etc.; Historic Classics as in Dickens, Austen, Henty, etc; Modern Classics as in Tolkien, Lewis, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, etc;); Modern Literature (anything published after 1950).
2. Has read a variety of author styles (both George MacDonald and Carolyn Keene; both James Fennimore Cooper and Frank Pereti etc.)
3. Has read a variety of genres (contemporary fiction, historical fiction, mystery and spy novels, thrillers, fantasy, science fiction, romance, adventure, poetry, satire, etc.)
4. Has read mostly truly good books but has also kept up with what is currently being published and widely-read.

Being well-read isn’t easy. It’s a process. And for those of us who aren’t really great readers (as in it takes a good deal of effort to read consistently), it’s an extra challenge. However, it’s never too late to start. Just remember that what you read is what you will write. If all you read is cheapy fluff novels, than that’s all you’ll be capable of writing. If you all you read is steampunk or graphic novels, you can’t expect that you’ll be able to write the great American classic.

Having a good background in QUALITY and VARIETY is the key to being a good writer, a writer who will not only write well but who will be taken seriously by publishers, critics and audiences (keeping in mind that most people who don’t write read avariciously; they’ll know a mediocre book when they see one).

So there you have it – what it means to be a well-read author. Now it’s your turn – go and think about what you’ve read and decide if you really are a well-read author or if you don’t believe a word I just said. Whichever you end up deciding on, just remember that the best authors of our time or any other time got to where they were or are by reading.

Leaving You Something to Think About,

                                                            Yours Truly