i think it’s important for folks to remember that it’s not just reading books. in creative writing classes we get taught this and people will be like yeah i read so much but then it’s all ya fantasy. like sure. okay. but that’s not rly good enough actually. if you want to write better you need a well-rounded understanding of the written word. you need to read in as many genres (like mystery, romance, horror, etc) as you can and you need to read old classic books and new releases and you need to read poems and plays and nonfiction and the more diverse the authors are the better and hell you should be paying attention to spoken word and lyrics and film scripts and video essays too because everything you hear was also written.
and you have no excuse not to.
can’t afford to buy a bunch of stuff you might not like? you can read physical books and audiobooks for free from libraries. you can pirate pretty much any book online. you can find a multitude of spoken word and speeches free on youtube. another multitude of poems for free on various poetry and lit journal websites.
don’t know where to start? read what you want to write. and i don’t just mean “i wanna write fantasy so i’m reading fantasy” i mean read stuff in the style (minimalist, purple prose, etc) you wanna write in, read stuff with the types of characters and tropes you wanna write, etc. keep an open mind. you might end up getting the most inspiration and growth for your novel from a movie script or song lyrics or something.
don’t like any of the things you’ve read that weren’t part of the specific niche you read in? keep looking. don’t judge classics by the novel you hated studying in grade ten. don’t judge nonfiction by news journalism. don’t judge poetry by rupi kaur. i promise you, the sampling most people have of written work in the mainstream doesn’t come close to capturing what actually exists out there. google “poems for people who like [book/movie you like]” or whatever. ask for recommendations from as many people as you can, once folks (especially teachers/profs!) know you’re a reader/writer they’ll be dying to get you to read something or other.
and most of all let people read your writing and listen to their feedback. i know it’s scary. believe me. but you cannot grow as a writer if you don’t accept feedback. and there’s a very strong chance that someone who’s giving you feedback is gonna at some point say something along the lines of “oh your piece reminds me of [other written work]” and now you get to go check that thing out if you haven’t already and learn what you have in common with already published works.
anyways. like op says if you want your craft to improve go read shit. especially if you plan on studying writing and/or getting published.
