Writing Technique Question

[Darryl]

Have any of you heard of author Paul Park? Last summer I was chatting with him at Readercon (You can do that there.), and he said that he doesn't read books. He found that if he read books while he was writing, whatever he was reading at the time would (however subtlely) appear in his writing.

What do you writers think of this?

[Protoclown]

I don't see how he could POSSIBLY not read books if he's a writer. Seems a bit odd to me.

My realm of interest, at least in terms of writing, lies in the comic book industry. One thing I really like about it is that you definitely get a sense of community there...the writers and artists are always checking out each other's work, they're FANS of each other's work. And if there's one thing I've come to find, it's that most good comic book writers READ good comics. They'll rave about what they like and rant about what they don't.

I suppose they all inspire each other in many ways, to either aspire to the level of someone's work whom they admire, or to beat the pants off some festering pile of shit book that they hate. But I think most of them still have their own distinctive voice among the choir.

[mburbank]

I agree that influence creeps into your work no matter what you do, but I don't see that as a problem, I see that as one of the most fundamental aspects of art.

So he doesn't read. What else doesn't he do? Watch TV, listen to the radio, talk to other people? I think you'd need to spend years in a sensesory depravation tank to avoid the risk of other's creative material creeping into your own.

That being said, I've always been (and I think most artists are) a collageists to one degree or another. In some cases my influences are very pparent, in some fairly near invisible to anyone but me. I haven't read any of his stuff, so won't comment, but completely original thinkers are the rarest of beasts.

[Darryl]

Max, you said that well. Thanks.

I also mentioned to him that I was interested in writing the kind of music that I want to listen to, and Park essentially said that was NOT the way he works. He implied that my notion was silly.

I have loved his work, but I did not then or now understand his weird arrogance. Or maybe aloof elitism?

[FranklinYu]

Yeah, I see alot of Neal Stephenson and William Gibson in my writings, I was recently reciting whole passages from the McCade Bounty series and changing the names. I didn't catch it till someone came by and smacked me for it.

[FS]

I can actually strongly relate to that. Every time I've tried to write something "serious" (in length), and I read a book or see a movie that has something extremely cool in it that relates to my writing, I've found myself strongly tempted to implement it into my story. It's really annoying, because it can cause me to completely lose interest in the actual story I was doing as I bend the concept to fit in this "extremely cool thing".

I have this in many creative things I do. More often than not I'm inspired by something and end up feeling like I've ripped it off. I don't think it's arrogance, rather lack of confidence.

[davyjoneslocker]

i haven't heard of paul park, but i can relate to what he says. it's easy to be impressed by a particular style of writing or whatever so maybe it is better not to have JUST read an awesome book before you sit down to write your own stuff; to not read any books ever? that seems really unlikely, and foolish too. reading enhances your capability with language and can help develop your writing without turning you into a plagiarist.

[theapportioner]

That being said, I've always been (and I think most artists are) a collageists to one degree or another.

More generally, this is how most creative enterprise and thought is accomplished.

[Miss Modular]

I'm lazy, so it took me awhile to respond.

I find it helpful to read before the process begins. I don't mind being influenced at all, especially if a given work has the esthetic I want to achieve. If anything, I'm afraid of growing too repetitive with my work, so I'm always looking for a new way to phrase this or that. After finishing the (what I call) "primitive" draft of my spec script, I spent 18 months renting movies, reading books, and listing to music that had sort of an absurd, arty esthetic, because that's the esthetic I wanted. I recently finished a film treatment that's generally not completely reflective of those things. Well, there's a little bit of an influence, but not as much as I wanted to be. But at the same time, I'm not disappointed.

I generally tend to avoid reading while writing, but that's because I'm so caught up in writing that I really don't have time to read.