If you want to be an aspiring writer, you need to learn about the advantages of extensive reading. Strong reading habits allow us to write exciting blog posts, interesting stories, and so on. Active readers know that the attributes such as syntax control, correct word choice, and creative writing strategies can be obtained through reading. While doing so, you will also incorporate the new skills into your writing ability. There is an old saying that identifies the better writers as better readers. So, it is fair to argue that there is a direct correlation between these two aspects. This article will go over different writing skills that you can acquire by reading more.
You can Obtain Critical Thinking Skills by Reading
While reading books, you can always ask yourself questions such as
Can it be considered as good writing?
If so, why is that?
These types of questions can help you think critically of the authors and their work, enabling you to find out the ones that inspire you the most while skipping the books that are not that good. As you go over the books that you are reading now, try to think critically and see why you like certain books more than others. Is it because of the subject, character development, or the use of theme by the author? If you manage to critically assess others' works while reading, it would be a lot easier for you to bring a similar mindset to your writing.
Reading Helps you to Learn About Different Writing Styles
Reading various writing styles can help you see the stylistic choices that those authors make and analyze why they did it. Find your own writing style; it is one of the best approaches that you can take. Look for the stylistic tendencies and decide which one would fit you the best.
Improve Grammar in Context
Without reading boring textbooks about grammar to master the writing ability, you can use interesting novels or short stories to accomplish that. You can learn from the experienced writers by reading their work, seeing how they approach communication through writing, tackling the grammar questions effectively, and so on. It is an exciting and time-efficient practice that can help you to study the way that those authors utilize conventions, punctuations, etc.
Expand your Vocabulary Through Reading
While reading, it is always better to take notes in order to learn the writing skills and remain engaged with the book. It is not like preparing for an exam where you take notes continuously. While reading, it is essential to highlight the phrases or words that you are not familiar with. You can then look for those phrases, learn their initial meaning, and practice them while writing.
Reading More Can Inspire New Ideas
Another great advantage of reading more is to expose yourself to new ideas and techniques about writing. If you manage to read daily and turn this into a habit, the productiveness on the writing side will increase as a result. Most of the time, successful writers allocate their time in a way that they could continuously read because the room for improvement, especially in the writing field, is almost limitless. Reading on a daily basis allows you to get new and inspiring ideas, which creates an opportunity for writing better over time.
It is a similar concept to sports in terms of competitiveness. The stronger the opponent is in sport, the athlete is striving to perform better than that. Eventually, they improve their skillset as the opponent challenges them to do so. The same concept can be applied to reading books that have been written by far more skillful writers. While doing so, you will improve your own writing ability and generate new skills and writing techniques along the way.
