Reading classics and stuffs
I loved reading since my earliest childhood, I was lucky to be born in a family where everyone read voraciously, my parents, my elder siblings, everyone had their own choice of books though but they all were voracious readers. My father and eldest brother loved reading non-fiction mostly, books like medical journals and Time-life series books. My elder sister was all into romantic books, the eldest loved romance, thrillers and ghost stories. Elder brother was mostly into cheesy romance and thrillers. I read everything I could lay my hands on. Literally everything! I still do! But I repeat fewer and repeat very few more than twice. When it comes to repeating I become all fussy. Enough foreplay, now how those books enriched me as a writer?
One too many ways! The level of English, Bengali and Hindi those books have taught me my school teachers could never teach me or college professors, they were just doing their duties in the classes but these authors laid out a delicious spread, they poured out their hearts on those books, played with words, dug out gems for their works and shared them with us. The things you can learn from books, no matter what field you are trying to advance in, no other medium can teach you. All you have to do is read as many as you can. That I did!
How did it benefit me as a writer? Honestly I can’t count the way! The seed that those thousands of books have sown and the dreams the daydreamer in me dreamt after reading them found their place in my writings decades later.
The skill of playing with words, knowing so many of them to start with! From where else could you accomplish it but from books or a dictionary, then a dictionary won’t teach you to play with words, sentences or things! Books open a universe before a writer, and give him/her the tools to play with it, conquer it!
It keeps them humble, after reading so many master-pieces a voracious reader who has become an author will never get arrogant, s/he will always know about masters and their classics and the worth of his/her own works.
It keeps them optimist too, no matter how little their books sell they will always remember legends like Lovecraft who died in penury, and after a horrific death became a legend! So, they will not get depressed if their books don’t sell but will enjoy the process of writing and sharing their works with world. Especially, in today’s age, when Kindle offers you amazing platform for publishing your works independently without spending a single dime! If you can’t afford to spend money on publishing you can still become a writer and quite often an established one! So no need to mope much but pray, that some fine day your works will get noticed and sell and you will still be around there to enjoy the show! Or else you will die as a writer who gave his/her best but did not get recognized like so many before you!
What have reading given you? Share!