Up until last week I'd probably read no more than two fiction novels in my entire life, a figure which seems shockingly low considering my age and my inclination towards all expressions of creativity.

Having gone through a fairly turbulent year I have been left to reconsider where my life is headed. This contemplation has rekindled my early passion for story telling and for once in my life I feel comfortable enough to run with it and brush off the the little devil on my shoulder who constantly talks of money "but it doesn't pay well", "you won't be able to buy that new TV" "and you can forget moving to a bigger house".

There is however a small hiccup in my plan. I'm reliably informed that no man can be a truly great writer without having expanded his mind through extensive reading.

Having set my mind on the artistic expression of thoughts and feelings through the written word (that's writing to you and me) I'm also going to have to turn some attention to my literary shortfalls. To this end I'm compiling a reading list for the new year and I'd like your help! I want to learn from the great literary geniuses of the past, only once I've covered the classics will I move on to the writers shaping the modern face of literature.

Here is my list so far:

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
Emma - Jayne Austen
Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Grimm's Household Tales - Brothers Grimm
Ulysses - James Joyce
The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Victor Hugo
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
Silas Marner - George Eliot
The Last of the Mohicans - James Fenimore Cooper
Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
The Pied Piper of Hamelin - Robert Browning
Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Joan of Arc - Mark Twain
Grimms' Fairy Tales - Brothers Grimm
Beowulf - Anonymous
Five Children and It - Edith Nesbit
Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
White Fang - Jack London
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne
Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum
The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells
The Time Machine - H. G. Wells
The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
The Tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Story of Doctor Dolittle - Robert Louis Stevenson
The Return of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
The Railway Children - Edith Nesbit
The Man in the Iron Mask - Alexandre Dumas
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving
The Island of Doctor Moreau - H. G. Wells
The Invisible Man - H. G. Wells
The Call of the Wild - Jack London
Arabian Nights - Anonymous
Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi
Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Jayne Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift
Frankenstein - Mark Shelley
Cinderella - Henry W. Hewet
Beauty and the Beat - Marie Le Price Beaumont
Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Jules Verne
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
Through The Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll
The Divine Comedy: Hell - Dante
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
The Swiss Family Robinson - Johann David Wyss


Misc

The Black Cat - Edgar Allan Poe
Stephen King on Writing - Stephen King
Bread and Chocolate - Phillippa Gregory
Scottish Hauntings - Grant McCambell

Thanks


J.

Hi, and welcome to WriteWords.

An impressive list, but probably best read for enjoyment, rather than for an insight into how to write. Times change and conventions with them; what was being published generations ago is not what publishers are looking for today. Don' neglect the top 10-15 authors currently being published in the genre you're writing in, to give you have an idea of what publishers are looking for these days.


- NaomiM

You could do a lot worse than adding Terry Pratchett to the list. Contemporary, of course, and often dismissed as merely a writer of "the Discworld books", but his writing style is masterful and evocative.

It's also worth trying to read analytically, not just to enjoy the story. A lot of experienced writers read a book through twice: once to enjoy it, and again to analyse how it is written and what works.

Alex

Go for it, and good luck! I agree it would help to read some contemporary writers too. But I wonder, why do you want to write if you are not a keen reader? Just curious.

My question exactly. I think I was formed very much as a writer from being a child because I read compulsively. Even things like the Bible which was read to us at school and poetry, which, in those days we had to copy out and learn by rote were huge influences on me, laying down rhythms and patterns of words in my brain which I draw on to this day when I sit down to write. I am wondering whether this anonymous new member is taking the piss, somewhat and playing a bit of a joke on us all.

Hmm. I'm trying to be open-minded (though tending towards Jem's opinion) - I'm sure people have many different motivations for wanting to write, but I'd agree that a love of reading does feel like a necessary starting point. I certainly think if you don't have much experience of reading for pleasure, it's going to be quite hard to derive a lot of enjoyment from putting your own words together - sometimes it's a lot of fun, sometimes it's bloody hard work!

But all credit to you for wanting to take the plunge. Alex's suggestion of looking at some TP is a great one - he's clever and very witty as well as being easy to read. 'Good Omens' is my personal favourite.

Sorry to be pedantic, but you should perhaps lose the phrase 'fiction novel' - novels (and novellas, and short stories) are fiction - if it's not fiction, then it's, well, non-fiction, if you see what I mean.

Best of luck, anyway

<Added>

Um. You might want to reconsider the 'no man' part also

Having had another look at your list, I think there are lot of titles you don't need there. Must you really read 'Peter Rabbit'? Unless you aim to be a children's author, that is. You could replace it with 'Lolita' or 'Atonement', or 'All the Pretty Horses' or some such modern classic.

Wow that is quite a list! When you say "reading for the new year" - do you intend to get through all that in 2011? Because I doubt I could, and I'm a pretty fast reader. War and Peace alone is over 500,000 words.

I'm also not quite sure what the merit is of reading classics before starting on contemporary novels. Sure, that's the approach taken by most English degrees but you don't need an English degree to write a novel.

I think it's also worth bearing in mind Naomi's point that reading classics will not tell you much, if anything, about writing a novel for today's market. So much has changed that many of them directly contradict received wisdom about what makes a "good" novel today. Which is not to say that they are not worth reading - of course they absolutely are. But I'm not sure how well they would function as a "how to" manual for novel-writing.

However, if you are simply wanting opinions on your list and not on the merits of reading classics in order to write fiction, purely in terms of your list, I would probably knock off a few of the Austens (maybe stick to Emma and P&P for starters) change round some of the Conan Doyles (add a novel, lose the Return maybe) and add some Shakespeare. I'd also add a Virginia Woolf, an Elizabeth Gaskell, a Ford Maddox Ford... you could go on forever really!

Let me start by thanking each of you for taking the time to respond and share your thoughts. I realise that my situation is somewhat unusual compared to most aspiring writers. However I can’t believe that all writers are forged through the same life experiences or that there is only one path into the industry .

Do I fit the profile of your average aspiring writer? Most definitely not.

For those of you who feel that I have some kind of ulterior motive in posting here I can assure you I don’t, I’m simply looking for help and guidance

I have no delusions of becoming a best selling author, I’m far too much of a realist for that. I understand that only a very small number of writers get published and of those only a small number go on to achieve any future success. Money, fame and women are not my motivations for writing.

The truth be told I’m not even suggesting that this will become a full-time occupation. At this stage all I’m looking to achieve is a greater understanding of English literature and an improvement of my own writing ability.

The reading list I’ve posted is by no means decided upon, I suspect it will change as time goes on with books being removed and added. I wanted to cover the classics because they have each stood the test of time, and from a personal perspective there are a lot of books here that I’ve always wanted to read. I would imagine this reading list will easily take me into 2012 and beyond.

I take onboard what has been said about these novels in relation to today’s market, however this is not my purpose in reading them. When I do get to that point I will start to look at contemporary writers and no-doubt dip into the last decade’s bestseller lists.

Thank you again to all those that have responded so far.

Hi

Just curious as to which 'two fiction novels' you have read? And how did you go about compiling your reading list? Are these recommended or just ones you think you 'should' read? Good luck with getting through them and I hope it helps you on your journey.

Katie x

But I wonder, why do you want to write if you are not a keen reader? Just curious.

Hmm.

I kinda see where you're coming from, Jem, but I think the test is not the love of reading but the love of words.

For example; I absolutely love, love, love riding horses... learning dressage tests... jumping courses... and, of course, going cross-country and seeing the horse doing what it is designed for and enjoys best. But watching it... Watching it is a bit like watching paint dry in monochrome soft-focus at night.

Similarly, I love, love, love creating a dramatic effect with words and particularly enjoy reading out my work to see how others in the room react. I read, certainly more than the two books wwuserid claims to have read, but reading is a secondary pleasure.

For me, the joy of writing is the joy of communicating and the joy of evoking emotions and ideas in other people's heads.

I read when I have time, but I'd rather be writing than reading in much the same way that I would rather be riding a horse than watching somebody else doing so.

That said, I do occasionally watch other riders to learn from them and so on. But it is the doing not the watching that excites me.

G

PS:

There is however a small hiccup in my plan. I'm reliably informed that no man can be a truly great writer without having expanded his mind through extensive reading.

I have no delusions of becoming a best selling author, I’m far too much of a realist for that.

To be honest, no amount of reading about something can replace the cold-hard moment of doing it.

If you want to write, try writing. Put some of it up for critique and get an honest opinion of where you are and are not lacking.

You can then use that to guide your reading choices - there is no point reading Hemingway if people tell you your prose is too sparse, for example. Similarly, no point reading Joyce if people complain that your writing is already impenetrable.

Just get stuck in, find out whether you enjoy it, use your writing on the side as an ongoing process of inspiration and personal development.

Most of all, have fun.

Writing is meant to be fun because there's bugger all else that most of us will get out of it!

Put some of it up for critique and get an honest opinion of where you are and are not lacking.

But be prepared for more of the 'what you are lacking' than 'what you are not lacking'. Even when the two come in equal measure, the negative comments tend to hit harder than the positive ones.

In all honesty, I would suggest spending a long time writing for your own enjoyment, before you ever consider asking for critical feedback. If you know what you enjoy reading (and this is where there is a point to doing plenty of reading) then you will know when your writing is to your own liking. Asking for critical comments too soon, in my experience, can have a very negative effect on your self-confidence, and therefore on your enjoyment of writing.

Alex

<Added>

Also, be prepared for some comments that tell you there's something wrong, but don't say exactly what (in terms that you can understand, anyway). For example, I once had a comment to the effect that I was trying too hard, which told me nothing about what the reviewer didn't actually like.

If you know what you enjoy reading (and this is where there is a point to doing plenty of reading) then you will know when your writing is to your own liking.

Yes, I think this is the point Jem and others were trying to make - if you haven't read much, I do think it's going to be quite hard to work out a) what you enjoy and b) what others might enjoy reading.

But as Gaius says, go ahead and take the plunge - put pen to paper, digit to keyboard, or whatever, and just see where it takes you.



Good luck

Asking for critical comments too soon, in my experience, can have a very negative effect on your self-confidence, and therefore on your enjoyment of writing.

Absolutely agreed.

But...

It is also important to remember that writing is primarily about communicating. (A solo pleasure measured in the enjoyment of others.) For me, that means performing, reading comments, seeing how people react. And I have had a number of fun evenings watching "performance poetry" and other dramatic, and very creative, evenings.

Performing a short piece that you have written at an open mic evening or in a pub allows you to get the very human reaction to what you intend your writing to be without needing to get the writing perfect.

It sounds, also, that that kind of thing would be much closer to wwuserid's experience so would provide a useful stepping stone into a wider verbal world.

G