30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 5 – writing ruins reading
September 6 2023 marks 5 years since my first novel was released 😲
I’ve now published 6, and have 2 more under contract.
To celebrate, I’m sharing a new post about what I’ve learnt from being published EVERY DAY throughout the month. This post is part of that series!
Click here for the rest →
I am having a lot of fun writing this series of things I have learnt since being published. It’s like all the Thoughts and Feelings I’ve been harbouring over the past five years are finally able to spill out of me.
If you’ve missed any of the previous four posts, you can catch up on them here:
Unfortunately, today’s post is going to be another bummer post. I’m sorry. Don’t shoot me, it’s not MY fault, I’m just the messenger.
Let’s get into it.
Here’s what I (kind of!) wish someone had told me before I started writing:
OK, so you want to be a published author, but are you prepared for the ultimate sacrifice?
The one you never even considered before you embarked on this crazy journey?
Are you, truly? I bet you’re not. I bet you’re in denial. I bet you’re convinced that you’ll find a way around this deeply depressing truism. That you’ll be the exception to the rule.
And I don’t blame you.
Because after all, to become a writer you have to love reading.
But the sad fact is that BEING AN AUTHOR RUINS READING.
Ruins it. Literally.
Destroys it. Forever.
All that joy you used to get from reading a brilliant book? Forget it, it’s gone forever.
The blissful escapism? No more buster. Say sayonara to that particular pleasure (not sure why I’ve verged into low-rent thriller-movie speak here).
No longer will you be able to switch your brain off and sink into a story in the same way, becoming fully immersed in the tale the writer wants to tell you.
No. From now on, whenever you read a book, but ESPECIALLY when it’s a book in your own genre, your brain is going to get in your goddamn way by COMMENTATING throughout the bloody thing.
You’re going to be thinking about STRUCTURE and VOICE and PLOT and CHARACTER ARCS and OVERALL THEMES.
A few examples of the kind of thing your annoying brain is going to start asking you:
OK, so what’s the reason the author’s introduced this character? No reason, right? So he must be the murderer? SO obvious.
Why on earth did the author choose the first person for this section?
I hate reading second person, it’s so wanky.
Aha! That’s definitely going to be the twist. [cut to the end of the book] Called it! *smug feelings*
Wow, this author uses way too many adjectives.
Is this author too big to edit? How did they get away with that sentence?
That metaphor doesn’t even MAKE SENSE.
This is a blatant rip off of XYZ book!
OK, I can see why this got so much fuss and attention, actually.
AND…
How the hell did this get a seven-figure deal in America?
AND then, the most painful one of them all:
This book is so good. I might as well give up now.
Etc etc etc
Never again will you be able to enjoy a book for its own sake, in the way that your lovely readers do. Other people’s books have now become RESEARCH.
I’m sorry. It was a real shock to me. It crept up on me, insidiously, in my debut year.
I started to realise that my brain was doing something weird as I read. It felt as though it was running alongside me, trying to work out what was going to happen in the book, and whether or not I would have made similar choices if I’d written it.
And before long I was doomed - the only voice I could hear as I was reading was my own, analytical one and its incessant critiquing.
Sometimes I even ended up writing down notes after reading a book - things I did or didn’t like.
Nightmare.
One little ray of consolation is that, so far, I am still able to enjoy storytelling in visual forms.
In fact, I actually bought myself membership to my local cinema earlier this year because I now find it much easier to enjoy watching a film than reading a book.
And I still really enjoy reading non-fiction. Autobiography especially.
But fiction? Forget it. The greatest casualty of my author career.
Sadly, there’s not much more I can say about this other than forewarned is forearmed.
So. Yeah. You have been warned. Continue writing at your own peril! 😉
