Comments on: We Are Readers

By: Silke

Silke — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 11:39:35 +0000

I was about six and while it wasn’t a conscious “I can do this/must do this” thing, the guy who “took me on a journey” was Karl May. The Germans among the Sven’s will know who he is, others probably not. I grew up reading (and watching! Omg!) Winnetou and I remember wanting a horse like Kara Ben Nemsi’s Rih.
Gawd… I’m going to have to persuade my Dad to part with his collection of books. It just wouldn’t be the same to curl up and read a crisp new copy.

By: Ann

Ann — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 03:04:44 +0000

Mine was Tolkien. I read the Hobbit in fourth grade, and devoured the Lord of the Rings the summer after that. Maybe that’s why I can’t write short?

By: Lisa Chalmers

Lisa Chalmers — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 22:27:55 +0000

It was Danielle Steel that made me want to write, but Jude Deveraux’s REMEMBRANCE where the heroine’s a romance writer that really cemented things. One of the first lines is not everyone has stories in their head. I remember being in the backseat of the car on a road trip with my parents thinking huh, is that true? lol

By: Karen Duvall

Karen Duvall — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:59:10 +0000

I feel the same way about reading, how it inspires me and encourages me with my own writing. I’ve always enjoyed writing, but limited it to short stories until I was thirty. I’d started reading Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series and was totally smitten by his wonderful characters. That’s when I knew I wanted to write a book. I’ve never written anything like his stories, but I learned a lot from him about how to create captivating characters that lived and breathed inside my mind.

I like reading all fiction genres, romance included, but I’m a fool for urban fantasy and have been reading and writing it before it became so popular. I love the classic UF storytellers like Clive Barker and Neil Gaiman. They’re both my author heroes. 8^)

By: Charlene Teglia

Charlene Teglia — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:38:23 +0000

Yes, yes, yes. If I’m not reading enough, I start to feel it and see it in my writing. I am shifting down a gear to have more reading time next year. Although for all I know my productivity will go up for the change. *g*

By: Joely

Joely — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:18:13 +0000

I really don’t remember how old I was, but I was in elementary school and reading Little House on the Prairie and Walter Farley’s Black Stallion books. I read every single book in both series and was so disappointed when they were over–I continued writing stories in my head. I literally read by the shelf. Started here, worked my way down the shelf and took home every single one. Moved to the next section. I never had any problems until I moved to romances toward junior high. The librarian went to our church and considered Victoria Holt too risque for me. My Mom wouldn’t let me read Stephen King, either. Seriously.

So boy did I read a lot once I left home for college.

As a result, I’m never going to censor what my kids want to read!

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:46:29 +0000

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh. I first read it when I was 11, the same age as the title character. It instantly became my favorite book. I must have read it 5 times in a row. I wanted to be just like Harriet. For awhile, I carried around a notebook and “spied” on my family, writing down what they did and said. I wanted to spy on my neighbors, but living in the ‘burbs is different than living in NYC. I was too chicken to cross through huge yards to listen at my neighbors’ windows. I didn’t keep the notebook for long, but it did inspire in me the desire to write, to tell stories, and to be bold.

By: Jess

Jess — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:49:48 +0000

Wow! I was thinking of posting on this sometime next week! There really is a correlation, at least for me, between how much I’m reading and whether or not I’m writing.

I was thirteen. It was Victor Hugo.

I’d been reading lots before that, but Les Miserables sort of cracked open the writing floodgates.

By: Caro Kinkead

Caro Kinkead — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:24:59 +0000

This is going to sound silly, but for me it was Dr. Seuss. I loved Green Eggs and Ham when I was little and one day asked my mother where the story came from. She told me that someone went to their office every day just like Dad, sat down at their desk and wrote these stories. At that moment, I decided that’s what I wanted to do when I grew up.

I would like to note for the record that I also wanted to be an actress and an archeologist at the same time.

For romance, I first tried my hand at it (I’d already been trying mystery and SF) because someone in my office kept talking about how she was going to “dash off” a romance novel and make a bunch of money. (Her attitude: “If a bunch of bored housewives can do this, I certainly can.”) I knew I was a better writer than her, so I figured I should try as well. I’d read romance before (I’d devoured Shanna the summer it came out), but it wasn’t until I started reading a high volume of books trying to get a feel for what was out there that I got sucked into the vortex.

As for the co-worker? She did “dash off” what she considered a romance novel that read pretty much like a parody and never got it published.

By: Larissa

Larissa — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:29:01 +0000

Amanda, the same thing happened to me! I actually wrote my first novel at the age of 12 — a Jack London/Stephen King-ish thing, and I kept writing, but romance? I pooh-poohed until my Air Force roommate made me read one when I was 24…and I fell in love with the genre. That’s what I’ve been writing ever since!