It has been said many times: read to improve your writing. There’s some sound theory behind that statement, but also some pitfalls for the unwary.

Over at Vigorous Writing, Jesse Hines talks about this very subject and how a strict reading plan can and will help you improve your prose. Though not necessarily through direct techniques, the general increased awareness of other writers’ works can indeed help you to give polish to your own work. It’s hard work, that’s for sure, particularly if you are not accustomed to reading, and as a writer one is always pulled in the direction of wanting to write more rather than become involved in someone else’s writing.

My personal experience with reading has, in the past, actually been quite detrimental to my writing. While searching for the answer to becoming a fully productive writer, I read a great deal across a wide range of genre and author. Unfortunately this merely confused my own writing. Each book I liked, I unconsciously tried to emulate, often discarding past work to re-write in the new style. Each new author delivered new ideas, and so they were also injected into existing work. The result was, as you can guess, a complete lack of any finished piece.

These days, where I am embroiled in the adventures of a group of Edwardian characters, I limit my reading to a greater extent. Truthfully this is as much about simply not having the time to fit in the challenging day-job, writing the stories, and read, as it is avoiding the past pitfalls from the past. Choice of books is determined by what I am writing about, and most of my reading has shifted to research of the period.

Reading is certainly important to understand what other writers are doing and how they tackle certain challenges in plot and characterisation, but the danger of losing one’s own voice must be carefully managed. I can truly say, looking back, I would have had several books written (published is another matter altogether) is I had more carefully managed my reading habits in the past.