Reading to learn craft, inspire jealousy, and fill the spreadsheet
suspense authors' lives as readers
In the second installment of a series I thought I’d do far more often, I’ve emailed a group of fellow suspense writers and asked a question I’ve had on my mind. This time, I wanted to know about my fellow writers’ reading habits.
Erin Flanagan
Edgar-winning author of COME WITH ME, DEER SEASON, and BLACKOUT
[Caitlin note: I always post the authors alphabetically, but it worked out that Erin also happened to answer each of my suggested/possible questions, so you can see what I was interested in hearing about. Cookie for you, Erin!]
How do your lives as reader and writer intersect?
I was a dedicated reader long before I was a dedicated writer. In 1992, I read the novel A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving and it totally knocked me over. I turned the last page and was like, how did he do that? The puzzle of the book, the language, all of it really got to me, and I made the conscious decision that I would always keep reading at the forefront of my life. Since then I’ve kept a spreadsheet of every book I’ve read and it’s like a time capsule of my life. From reading Sex Tips for a Straight Woman from a Gay Man when I was single in 1998, to the first books published by friends, to my own first book on the list.
Reading is obviously closely connected to writing, but one big difference is it’s never let me down. Sure, I might hit a book slump, but it’s never made me hate myself the way writing can. There was a time around 2018 that I decide writing made me so miserable I was going to quit doing it for a year, and instead I turned to reading. Reading other people’s work made me so happy I fell back in love with language and story, and that eventually it got me over the hump and back to writing.
How do you make time for both?
Because I’ve kept track of my reading for so long, I’m always trying to beat the last year’s number or at least make a decent showing, so that motivates me to get it done. Oddly, I’ve found the number is higher if I abandon books along the way. If I’m 20% in and not loving it, that means I’ll lag, so I’ll set it aside and find one I do love because I’ll read it faster. But oh, the pain of losing that reading time is real, because of course I don’t get credit on the spreadsheet then. And I know when I talk about the reading spreadsheet people are thinking, wow, what a party girl, she sounds like a gas. But really, I swear I’m pretty fun.
Is there anything you avoid reading at certain times in your writing life?
I remember when I would have crushes on guys I could turn any conversation to them in like two turns. Ruth Bader Ginsberg: Ruth is such an old-timey name, kind of like Sylvia. Did you know [my crush] has an aunt named Sylvia? That kind of thing. I find whatever I’m reading relates to whatever I’m writing in that same way. I can be listening to a memoir by an SNL cast member and somehow see how it relates to my mystery novel in-progress. When I’m in the middle of a writing project I’m sharper somehow, more open, so everything becomes a part of the book. The only thing I’ll actively avoid is something that sounds eerily similar—same location, or maybe same main dynamic between sisters or something. I’ll avoid those in the first-draft stage. But even so, inevitably, I’ll read a book and think, “holy fuck, I have written this same book and didn’t even know it. My life is a sham.”
Are there things you make sure to read in order to further your life as an author?
I’d say half of what I read is in the mystery/suspense genre I write—partly because I want to see what’s being published, but also because I just freaking love it. I also happen to love craft books and books about the writing life, so those get in the mix a lot. But other than that, I’m pretty open to whatever catches my eye and makes me happy.
Donna Freitas
THE NINE LIVES OF ROSE NAPOLITANO and 20+ more; fellow Substacker on writing and publishing!
My life as a reader and writer are nearly the same. As in, they are intimately connected and I wouldn't know how to extricate one from the other. Every morning I get up, make my coffee, and then sit down with my coffee to read as I caffeinate myself. I *always* read in the genre that I'm writing in at that time—if I'm writing memoir or a personal essay, then I read memoir, if I'm writing a thriller, I read a thriller. I read to get in the mood to write and I read to remember how to write, to see how it's done by others. The reading is an onramp to the writing—as I read I'm waiting for a line to appear in my mind, for something to strike me so I can open my laptop and begin.
I often go back and forth each morning—a little reading, a little writing, a little more reading.
I also usually have a morning book (a book to get me in the mood to write) and an afternoon/evening book (a fun book, that has nothing to do with trying to get in the mood to write). In fact, if my afternoon-fun book suddenly and accidentally makes me want to write for some reason, I switch it to my morning book! I never write in the afternoons because my writing brain only works in the morning.
It's all very strict! But it works for me. And it also means I read every day no matter what.
Vera Kurian
Edgar-nominated author of A STEP PAST DARKNESS and NEVER SAW ME COMING; fellow Substacker on writing and publishing!
I read for pleasure, to become a better writer, and because I'm constantly curious about new topics. Post-pandemic, however, I've had a really difficult time with reading. I used to read about a book a week and now I read less than half that. I've been able to write—and write a lot—but the stakes are much higher there. Right now I'm actively working on some attention problems I've had in the past few years, which I can't entirely blame on COVID—I'm addicted to various electronic devices and am trying to put limitations on my phone and computer. [Caitlin note: ugh, me too.] I always make time for writing even though I'm busy with a variety of things, but reading often falls through the cracks.
In terms of how I use reading to make me a better writer, similar to how there are "method actors," I'm like a method writer. I read a lot about football and coal mining for my second book. For the book I'm writing right now, I'm learning to play the guitar and reading and consuming biographical information about rock musicians. I always tell aspiring writers that reading and analysis is more important to becoming a better writer than are classes, degrees, workshops, whatever.
IMHO, everyone, regardless of what genre they write, should read both literary fiction and genre. Literary fiction will teach you about writing and character but not very much about plot or tropes, which is why you need to study genre (which is often written just as well). Reader reviews (just not your own) and critical analysis of books teach you how to analyze writing, rather than just consuming it passively and not thinking about it after.
Caitlin Mullen
Edgar-winning author of PLEASE SEE US
When I’m having a hard time writing, reading is usually what best helps me reconnect to my writing-brain. I don’t avoid reading anything in particular when I’m writing, though I might have a craving for a certain sensibility, style, or genre, the way you crave a particular meal, and nothing else will be right until I find that thing that I need aesthetically or emotionally from a novel or memoir or essay collection. I’m not particularly afraid of being influenced one way or another by what I’m reading. Sometimes I’ll read something that makes me jealous that I didn’t write it, which is a good thing! That kind of jealousy helps me better understand what I want for my own work.
Andromeda Romano-Lax
THE DEEPEST LAKE (May 2024), ANNIE AND THE WOLVES, and four more
Reading is where it all starts and where I return when I'm questioning my own writing or losing touch with all that fiction can do. But more specifically! I read tons of nonfiction when I'm writing fiction—for example, working on a thriller at the moment, I have consumed dozens of journal articles about psychopaths. For future historical novels I've been reading biographies and poetry. Completely between projects, I may study a genre on purpose, as I did before writing my first suspense novel, The Deepest Lake. But once I'm well-started on a new project, I avoid any novel that seems too similar to mine, in terms of content, theme, or structure. That can be a fun time to deliberately read things that are really different. (I'm reading a lot of feminist horror lately, for example, even though I'm not writing horror.)
Once I've finished a solid draft and don't feel like I'll be overly influenced, I open the gates again. This is when I'll let myself read novels that slightly overlap mine, often as a way to find new inspiration for continuing the endless labors that will follow. If I'm doing the millionth revision and I've lost track of why I chose that topic or approach to begin with, I'll read someone else's take and find both pleasure and reassurance. See, this theme is interesting. Or see, this novel takes its time to get started and it focuses on characters more than an immediately twisty plot, and that's why I like it!
If a book is a perfect comparison title, I will continue to avoid it, however. After writing Plum Rains, which has a robot character, I couldn't bring myself to read Klara and the Sun, even though Kazuo Ishiguro used to be my favorite author.
Caitlin Wahrer
THE DAMAGE
I started writing my first novel while I was working as a full-time lawyer, and like many full-time lawyers I know, I wasn’t reading anything besides what came with work. Relatedly, I hadn’t been writing anything besides what came with work. I got back into both at the same time: reading and writing for pleasure.
Since that time (fall of 2017, to be specific), I’ve always frontloaded my day with writing and saved reading for the evening. For me, this looked like getting up early to write and going to bed early to read. (And being strict about the timeframes in the beginning, which helped cement the habits.) That said, like Vera, I’ve cycled through periods of distraction and falling into my phone instead of the book I’ve left on my bedside table, or staying up late watching good tv with Ben (I’m pretty sure I didn’t read so much as a page after we started the first episode of Slow Horses until we’d finished the last).
I can see that I’m in good company with this crew, balancing whatever-I-want reading with books and other material that relates to the story I’m working on at the moment. In terms of what I don’t read, I’m like Andromeda: if I’m worried a book is “too close” to what I’m writing, I’ll save it for revision times, or maybe even later. I have also avoided books that I fear will give me imposter syndrome or white-hot jealousy, which is why it took me so long to read Angie Kim’s Miracle Creek, even though it was getting recommended to me all the time after I published The Damage. (Them: “You wrote a family drama in the legal system with a moral dilemma at the heart of it? You gotta read Miracle Creek, it is the best version of that I have ever read!!!” Me: “……….but you said you read my book.”)
But ego moments and TikTok binges aside, reading is my favorite way to close my day, unwind my brain, and enjoy my quiet time. I believe, like Vera, that I’ve learned more about writing novels from reading novels than any source, including how-to-write-a-novel courses, books, lectures, and the like. (That said, I love a craft book, a writer memoir, a lecture or interview…all have the potential to inspire or reassure.)
Like everyone in this crew, reading great writing makes me want to write.
Other group-chat articles:
I loved this so much and it made me want to read EVEN MORE! (Plus hang out with these cool writers.)
I loved reading these and omg, I especially love the memes. Especially mine. lol