do you have trouble reading when writing?

[rae121452]

i have stories going on in my head all of the time. when i'm writing one, it's like a constant thread running under the surface of my thoughts.

i used to spend several hours a day reading. now, when i'm writing or contemplating a story, i find it a real effort to concentrate on what i'm reading.

are the voices taking over?

 

[NotWise]

are the voices taking over?

Yeah, you're probably a gonner.

I've been a terrible reader since I started writing. It's like those two things are mutually incompatible. I can read or I can write, but it's very hard to do both at the same time.

 

[JennaMonroe]

Yep, you’re a goner. I have a hard time reading now. I’m always thinking about how I would have written it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

i have stories going on in my head all of the time. when i'm writing one, it's like a constant thread running under the surface of my thoughts.

i used to spend several hours a day reading. now, when i'm writing or contemplating a story, i find it a real effort to concentrate on what i'm reading.

are the voices taking over?

Yes. Let them.

When I'm on a writing roll, I read so much less, less of everything, not just erotica.

 

[SamScribble]

I read far fewer sustained pieces when I am in writing mode. And, with the shorter pieces, I often find myself rewriting them in my mind as I read. Oh well ....

 

[R. Richard]

Reading take3s time. I use the time to write.

 

[gunhilltrain]

A couple of comments on this:

1. The voices in your head: someone with more experience that I have advised me to have a notebook and write down these thoughts. These notes can be useful and can otherwise be forgotten.

She also said to carry the notebook around when I'm going someplace as thoughts will often arrive when I'm riding on a train or bus.

2. So far I haven't noticed any distractions when reading other materials. If anything, I now have a bit more energy to focus on reading those other works.

 

[Kantarii]

I rarely read anything when I’m writing new material simply because I’m trying to keep outside influences from appearing in my stories. I want my work to be wholly mine without influence. That’s just meKant

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Used to read a lot before I started writing, then just stopped dead. With the advent of smart phones and tablets, I have once again started to read while waiting to fall asleep.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Assuming William Faulkner had credibility to comment on this:

“Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.”

 

[Jada59]

I used to read a lot of fiction. Now I rarely do. If I read at all, it's self help type things or true stories.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I rarely read anything when I’m writing new material simply because I’m trying to keep outside influences from appearing in my stories. I want my work to be wholly mine without influence. That’s just meKant

No, that's not just you.

I'm starting to find in my inter-connected worlds that one story starts to connect with another, which can get problematic.. when they're 1700 years apart. It's not quite got to the point I can't read myself, but getting close.

 

[FEELINGLUCKYPUNK]

I've been known to walk andd chew gum at the same time

 

[lovecraft68]

I'll join the list of people who have seemed to swap out reading for writing.

For the majority of my life I would read a novel a week, plus short stories in the endless collection of horror anthologies I own.

Since I've been writing the last few years I'm down to just short stories and I find its an effort to even focus and get through those.

Its like I spent years absorbing words and now I'm purging them

 

[FEELINGLUCKYPUNK]

I discovered most writing is bad, ditto pussy, beer, and cooking. I refuse to suffer any inferior efforts. Yet I buy plenty of stories and books.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

A couple of comments on this:

1. The voices in your head: someone with more experience that I have advised me to have a notebook and write down these thoughts. These notes can be useful and can otherwise be forgotten.

She also said to carry the notebook around when I'm going someplace as thoughts will often arrive when I'm riding on a train or bus.

2. So far I haven't noticed any distractions when reading other materials. If anything, I now have a bit more energy to focus on reading those other works.

Or since most people have smartphones, use the voice recorder on it. Hell, the last few stories I have posted have been typed on my phone, out ot convenience.

 

[Kantarii]

No, that's not just you.

I'm starting to find in my inter-connected worlds that one story starts to connect with another, which can get problematic.. when they're 1700 years apart. It's not quite got to the point I can't read myself, but getting close.

WowI’m not alone. Damn, it feels great

 

[KindofHere]

..............

 

[psiberzerker]

I can't read anything too similar;

Okay, language processing is around the center of the brain, but split by the corpus collusom. So, it's integrated, and... Not? Do you ever experience de-ja vu or similar symptoms when you notice this?

I can't write without playing music in the background, but preferably in German. My language processing is different. (In a different way yours is.) I've done this before, but not with you, and it ain't easy in plaintext, over the internet.

If I read something like a comic book, while I'm writing supervilliany, then my villiians start showing up in that story, and vice-versa. (Bleedover across the corpus collosum, with vujade. I don't even realize I'm doing it, again.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQY1RCH4gJE

 

[lovecraft68]

I can't read anything too similar;

Okay, language processing is around the center of the brain, but split by the corpus collusom. So, it's integrated, and... Not? Do you ever experience de-ja vu or similar symptoms when you notice this?

I can't write without playing music in the background, but preferably in German. My language processing is different. (In a different way yours is.) I've done this before, but not with you, and it ain't easy in plaintext, over the internet.

If I read something like a comic book, while I'm writing supervilliany, then my villiians start showing up in that story, and vice-versa. (Bleedover across the corpus collosum, with vujade. I don't even realize I'm doing it, again.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQY1RCH4gJE

I had to stop watching that show Emerald city( a wizard of OZ reboot type show) because the psycho lesbian witch of the west was disturbingly like my character Abigail and I found I couldn't separate them.

Comic books....I owned a comic shop for five years....I don't think I've read one since that wasn't pre code horror.

 

[KCWinter]

I used to read constantly, until publishers started accepting the books I wrote. Then I was spending so much time writing that I barely had time to read.

I'm no longer working with any publishers, so that isn't an obstacle anymore. Now, between depression and deteriorating eyesight, I have trouble focusing enough to read fiction. I read some nonfiction at times, but not much.

I'd really like to start reading more again... Between being unemployed and not really writing at this point, I could use something else to do.

 

[psiberzerker]

I used to read constantly, until publishers started accepting the books I wrote. Then I was spending so much time writing that I barely had time to read.

This is actually a natural transition in becoming a full-time writer. We still have to read, the first stage to learn writing, as a potential author. We have to familiarize ourselves with the classics, and also stay up to date with the present market (To be a professional writer) However, there's a fuck of a lot more past than present.

I didn't want to read 50 Shades, but I had to. Due to it's popularity, if I'm going to write BDSM, I have to keep up to date with what the mass public believes about the lifestyle. (Even though it's impossible, abusive, and has nothing to do with the Reality of BDSM) I also have to practice BDSM to write about it. (I'm an amateur writer, and professional fetishist) Accurately, and realistically, so that real life BDSMers will enjoy it. Not straight girls that want a car on their first date, and will accept a spanking for that fantasy.