On Reading

So lately I’ve been reading bits and pieces of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series. It got me thinking on how weird I am with books. First off, I don’t tend to read them slowly; a lot of the time I tend to absolutely devour a story, reading through it at a blazing pace. Then I seem to like to go back over the parts I liked, reading a little bit slower on the second pass.

I don’t know why I read that way, it’s just something I do. It gets even weirder once I start writing something. For some reason its like my brain gets hungry for a particular kind of scene or writing style, and I start devouring those books all over again. You could almost say that I use them to fuel my own creative process, kickstarting my own thoughts on what I would write if I was in charge of the story/world/premise. It’s not like I am trying to fix the other author’s story, more like I am noticing the themes and other aspects that work and incorporating them into my own ideas.

I think that’s why I like the kinds of books I do. Authors like Stackpole and Sanderson, Jordan and Scalzi, and all the others of my eclectic reading selection appeal to me because I love how their ideas inspire my own work. Maybe that’s why whenever I get my hands on a new book that impresses me with its story, I burn through it like it wasn’t even there.

Well, that’s all for now. Just some random thoughts tonight, I guess. Perhaps I will have more deep thoughts or interesting material on Monday. :) See ya round!