Some Thoughts on Reading and Writing

I have a child who does not like to read. He never has. I don't know if I just didn't read to him enough as a child or if it was something he was born with, but he doesn't enjoy reading. He can read. He completes his assignments for school. But he chooses not to. And that is his choice. But I can't help but think of all the wondrous worlds that he is missing out on. But he doesn't see it that way.

Harry Potter? He saw the movies - the first few anyway. The Ranger's Apprentice? Boring. Fablehaven? Nah. Artemis Fowl? Nope. Lord of the Rings? Are you serious? A Series of  Unfortunate Events? You read that to me years ago.. Been there, done that. Maybe I'm too ambitious. James and the Giant Peach? The Phantom Tollbooth? The Indian in the Cupboard? No, no, and no.

To be fair, he has read Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books - the first series anyway. And he will read Captain Underpants books and comic books. Yay.

We were discussing this a little on the way to school this morning, and surprisingly he mentioned that he would rather write books than read them. What? Apparently reading about what other people have imagined is boring, but using his own imagination to write his own stories is more interesting. Hmmm. I guess I never thought about it that way before. Can writing his own stories make up for not exposing himself to good literature?

I did a bit of internet searching and came across a question and answer forum where the question was, "Can I be a good writer without reading a lot?"

Most of the answers tended towards no:

"You can certainly write, inasmuch as you can write words down on a page. But that's not "becoming a good writer." if you have no idea what other books look like, then you'll basically be trying to invent the modern novel from scratch. You won't have any sense of what works and what to avoid; what can be powerful and what's already been done to death; what expectations readers will demand you meet and what surprises will knock their socks off.... Consider: you want to write a book that you, apparently, would rather not read, because it's a book. How likely are you to be pleased with this book, then? How will you be able to tell if you're doing "well" or "not well"? Who, precisely, do you think will be a good audience for your work, and how can you tell if they'll like it without knowing what else they enjoy?"

Yet there were some that swayed the other way:

"Of course you can! I think it is a myth that you need to read a lot to be a good writer. I have never seen a scientific study that supported that claim. You certainly need to be or become a master of language, but language does not only happen in literature, and much of contemporary literature is not even written in a "literary" style, but rather emulates oral history and audiovisual media. And those that read a lot don't usually write a masterpiece on the first try, either. They, too, have to learn how to actively use the language they have until then only consumed passively. Because, as we should all know, eating a lot is not the same as understanding how the food is made."

And others:

"You can be a good storyteller. I'm like you. I rarely read for fun, but watched a LOT of movies and played a lot of video games.... I also imagined that I wanted to write books. But what I really wanted to do was to tell stories and to be creative. I realized that since I never read fiction (but I do read a LOT for non-fiction), I probably shouldn't try to write it. Why write something I would never bother to read? Try writing scripts instead. If you enjoy movies and games, try to write in the format you enjoy."

"Yes, reading books will improve your vocabulary, yes it will expose you to plots and structure. Yet, that will not make you into a writer, it will make you into a READER, a critic who will spot problems with a story and its flow. Like the saying: "those who can’t do, teach"; here it can be used as "those who can’t write, read". A writer is not only a composer but a word smith, a storyteller, a communicator. Yes, a writer can get better at sensing what works or not by reading more, but it doesn’t work the other way around and a reader does not a writer make."

And another comment I found interesting in light of the fact that my son loves playing games on the computer: 

"Also playing video games often may be a detriment to your communication skills... The skills that make you a good gamer are the same skills that make you a poor writer. Games teach you to be impatient, and to make snap decisions. Writing on the other hand, is a much more patient process. It is better to slow down and think about what you are writing instead of just trying to force a bunch of words on paper. "

 I don't think my son wants to be a professional writer. A zookeeper maybe. A stand-up comedian possibly. If he doesn't want to read quality literature, that is his choice no matter how incomprehensible I may find it.  I just mourn that there are so many fascinating worlds and stories that I can't share with him because he won't read about them.