Studying Great Books for Finding Writing Inspiration with

Studying Great Books for Finding Writing Inspiration with

Hello all and welcome to our next lesson today on ways in which you can find writing inspiration! And for this lesson as I said before, we'll be talking about using, reading and studying great books for finding writing inspiration with. And this might mean bookmarking some pages, using sticky notes, taking down notes & highlighting things. But just bare with me because there's method in the madness!

Image source: 8 reasons why reading is so important.
Okay so I know you just want to be a better writer or author right? You just want to know how to become a writer or author let alone a successful published one right? You just want to find some tips and tricks for writing inspiration so you can get that thesis, study, guide, essay or book written right?

Well I'm sure you can read already. And you likely have good reading skills if you want to be a writer too. Well if you can read you can write and if you've got any kind of imagination at all you can definitely write! But generally, to be a good writer, you need to be a good reader.

And being a good reader, and doing a lot of reading, will always go on to make you a better writer too! Even if you're not already a writer but you're someone that does a lot of reading. I bet money down now that you're a good writer but you don't even know it!

I know for a fact, that I've picked up my writing skills from doing a lot of reading. The rest are from God. People have always said to me that I have a way with words or that I'm good with words. I just think I'm too gobby for my own good! But that's true that it was from reading all those books, stories and that as a kid!

I grew up in a house where the Encycloedia Brittanica was the Internet of today. I was completely fascinated by every single page of information. And there was always books around, I'd read books from the library / mobile library etc. Well, we never really had games consoles back then!

And so, without a doubt, it was that initial reading I done that gave me the wordsmith skills that I have today I think. And I don't think I'm even that good a writer either. I think my spelling is okay but my gramma just about wings it lol

But that's okay! Because words can be changed and in fact, many a great popular book author today has had to have his writing proof read and changed before it was actually published as a book. Of course, it helps if you know how to talk the talk for what's at hand. And you can write as though you was educated but it depends what you're writing about too.

Reading Books for Writing Inspiration

There are many ways you can find inpsiration for writing from just reading books alone. Let's talk about and share some of those ways in bullet points style so they are easier to digest.

• Gives you ideas of your own
  Just reading a book, whether a fact or fiction book, can give you a lot of ideas for your own stories or plans to do the same things yourself.
• Inspires you to do the same
  Some books are very popular and the stories in them aren't even that good but the authors can make a nice nest egg from them for the rest of their life.
• They improve your writing skills
  Just reading books alone can be enough to improve your writing skills since you'll learn as you read about how words can be used, or even new words and their meanings etc.

An Undeniable Logic

And of course, if you're thinking of writing your own book. The smartest, most sensible, most shrewd, most wise decision you could make and advice I could give you would be to read and study those books that are similar to the genre of book it is you want to write. And that same logic can also obviously be applied for any articles you want or need to write both for yourself or for a client as a freelance writer.

So if you want to write a book, or you want or need to write an article. And you want it to be a great book or a great article. And you want to improve your writing skills while coming up with inspiration at the same time, get reading! Read and study those great books that inspire you.

To Study Books for Writing Inspiration

To really study books, while it's good to actually read it obviously and not just what's on the back cover lol. You should ideally take notes using a pen and pad and write down things you're learning about that book or story as you go along. Kind of like as though you was creating a news report on it or something.

I like to do this sometimes for some books and link things together using sticky notes. I'll add one to a page and write on it something that page references that is in relation to another page and why and any questions I have about it the book doesn't immediately answer which I can go through at the end to see if I can get all the answers I'm seeking. That saves writing all over the book itself but I like to use highlighter pen sometimes too or just underline stuff, it depends on the book lol.

But that's basically how you can use and study books and why you should and how for finding writing inspiration and more!

Some Homework for you

• Find a great book in a genre you care about or an author you like that you've not read.
  
• Start to read the book and take notes as you go, page for page or chapter by chapter or something.
  
• Jot down any ideas the book gives you for things, stories or books you could write.
  
• Optional: Try to write a much shorter version of that book. Long but worth doing!
  

What about you?

Do you use and read books for finding writing inspiration?
What other ways can and do books inspire you to write?

Thanks!

Mike.