It's been said that the benefits of becoming a writer who does not read is that all your ideas are new and original. Everything you do is an extension of yourself, instead of a mixture of you and another author. On the other hand, how can you expect other people to want your writing, if you don't enjoy reading? What are your thoughts?
Writing is like cooking. We all get the basic ingredients. With these basic ingredients (flour, eggs, sugar and butter), we can make
- doughnut,
- cake,
- even a bread.
Depending on our skills and how daring we are, we can make a whole lot more recipes too.
In fiction, with some basic ingredients (world, dialogues, scenes, characters, etc.), we can tap into a different genre or a completely different story. That’s why when we have an idea, it is in our best interest to make a story chart like this one:
My kids were telling me one day about people who lost their memories. Amnesiacs may wake up as totally different persons. Without your memories or with a set of different memories, trust me, you would be a totally different person.
It’s not how much you have read or what you have read that counts, it’s the experience. Where you get your experience in storytelling is up to you. The more the better. The more diverse the better too. Some listen to live storytellers and become amazing writers. Others gather stories from their childhood learned from people around them. And different people read books.
People who go around the world and come up with a best seller are not unheard of. People who devour the classics and become best sellers are not unheard of either. We all got our way of doing this.
There is no one way to tell stories, to gather content, to experience things, or to write about it.
Many people seem to think that to write Young Adult fiction, you need to read a lot of Young Adult fiction. No, you don’t. But if you don’t know how to write them, that’s a great starting point.
Many stories have been written by adults that are not in touch with teenagers and don’t know the words young adults use. Still, they write amazing stories and teens read them.
Many stories young adults read were not intended for young adults. I am not sure all teens want to read about books where they can recognize their own voice. Some might, but others are actively researching voices that are not theirs and subjects they don’t have affinities with. They just want to learn about things that have nothing in common with them. They are intrigued and curious.
My teens are not reading books with characters having their color, their religion, or their culture. And they are part of several minorities and subgroups.
They can read up to 10 books a month.
In a year, they might read more than 100 different books.
If they limit themselves to only certain types of books, they won’t have much to read.
What they are looking for more than anything is a great story, a complex and realistic story, something that sounds real and authentic.
Needless to say, my kids are not looking for Young Adult books exclusively.
Neither was I when I was their age.
They love reading books written for adults too. They love picture books from time to time. Kids read above their age and sometimes way above their age and sometimes way under their age.
Mostly, they are intrigued by the adult world, not so much by the teen world. Teens, they understand. Adults? They want to know more about them because they want to know what kind of adult they want to become.
It has been said that half of the people who read Young Adult are women in their 40s.
“By some market estimates, nearly 70 percent of all YA titles are purchased by adults between the ages of 18 and 64.” (https://www.thebalancecareers.com/the-young-adult-book-market-2799954)
More adults read Young adults than teens.
Understandable.
Many of us love remembering the first times, and we can identify with the coming of age. Plus, many parents want to remember how it was to be a teen in order to do a better job at raising their own teens.
What counts is the experience.
What counts is what is told with the heart.
Writing techniques are learned reading other people's books or listening to great storytellers.
However content comes from deep inside. It comes from a unique set of experiences you can only provide.
So, yeah, if you want to write a great book, stop trying to fit your story to the market and in an age group. Write the best story you can write and then decide where it fits. Maybe it won’t fit anywhere. Maybe it will fit in several places (unique stories and cross-genres are trendy these days).
Imitate and then find your own style, then soar like an eagle.
I know I want to.
Do you want to?