Quote:
Originally Posted by Leisha  I know some people frown on authors who don't read. |
And as a general rule I'm one of them. But you say you used to be a reader, so that counts in your favor. Some people have read more books by the time they're eighteen than other people may read in their entire lifetime.
I, do, of course, think that it would be of immeasurable benefit to you to do as much reading as possible. And if you are having trouble concentrating, maybe you are simply reading the wrong books. For a writer, reading (as well as being instructive) should be a pleasure, not an onerous duty. I tell you quite frankly, if a book doesn't engage my interest, if I find my mind wandering, I feel under NO obligation to finish it. Away it goes and I read something else. (Sometimes I'll come back to it another time, and find it more interesting than on the first attempt.)
Oh, and by the way, my first book (well, the first completed, the first published) started out as a dream, too.
Here's a quote from Ursula K. LeGuin that you might enjoy (I know the original was longer, but this is what I scribbled down one time for a seminar, and I'm too lazy at the moment to hunt up the book and find the whole thing):
We like to think we live in daylight, but half of the world is always dark; and fantasy, like poetry, speaks the language of the night ... written fantasy translates into verbal images and coherent narrative froms the intuitions of the unconscious mind -- body language, dreamstuff, primary process thinking.