If you want to be a good writer, you need to read
It’s a really satisfying and rewarding part of the job to commission genuinely funny, brilliant and passionate new writers – and I’m willing to bet that every single one of them is an avid reader, writes Harriet Williamson
On returning from a blissful week’s holiday, sporting only negligible sunburn, I found my inbox bursting at the virtual seams with 500-plus unread emails. Many of them were pitches, as is absolutely expected in my role as commissioning editor for Voices.
The best pitches are those that engage me immediately with a punchy working headline and a timely news hook, from freelance writers who can bring something to the table that’s distinct from our regular columnists and the topics they usually cover.
It’s a really satisfying and rewarding part of the job to commission genuinely funny, brilliant and passionate new writers – and I’m willing to bet that every single one of them is an avid reader.
Many of our most culturally revered writers – including novelists like Terry Pratchett, Cormac McCarthy, Stephen King and William Faulkner – espouse the joys, and the necessity, of reading in order to write well. Brokeback Mountain author Annie Proulx said: “Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.”
She’s right. Reading has always felt like the most important tool for me in learning how to be a better, more expansive, persuasive and engaging writer. Practise, receiving useful feedback and fearless experimentation are necessary too, but reading widely and often is the bedrock. It provides a strong foundation for writing, whether your interests lie in creating fiction or poetry, or in journalism. The process of growth and improvement never ends, and I hope I can keep learning and evolving as a writer as long as I’m alive.
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In my experience, the people who are the best writers are the most voracious devourers of books, and take real pleasure from exploring new concepts, perspectives and the experiences of others through reading. Sadly, being a reader doesn’t automatically mean you’ll turn into Bernardine Evaristo (more’s the pity), but it is a vital building block for developing those skills.
So if you want to write well and write in a distinctive voice, read across genres, across news and features and – of course – opinion sections like Voices. Don’t be content with a little. Read a lot.
Yours,
Harriet Williamson
Voices commissioning editor