When you’re elbow deep in a first draft, can
you read other fiction, or does it mess with your own writing?
-from Susan
This is a good
question, and I’ll be eager to hear what other writers have to say about it. I
think my response would have been different, or more emphatic with the first
book in the Dani O’Rourke series, when my protagonist’s voice was less mature;
that is, when she hadn’t yet become a thoroughly embedded persona in my head.
There were books that might have swayed my own writing, and I knew it
instinctively. So, I didn’t read any
female narrators, light or humorous stories, anything set in San Francisco or
the art world. I have a hunch the fear some new writers have of having their
own ideas stolen in the marketplace is a projection of their own concerns that they
will unconsciously “steal” from someone else. It may happen in small or large
ways, but the more you write, the more you realize that five people can take
the same premise and write five entirely different stories.
I’m glad I made that
choice to avoid reading other crime fiction while I was working on my first
draft because I was forced to dig deeper into my own head for character, plot,
setting. I hope I wasn’t echoing anyone I admired while I was figuring out how
Dani O’Rourke would react, think, and protect herself emotionally and
physically. However, having written the third in the series (Mixed Up with Murder, out February 2),
I’m a lot better connected to my own fiction. I am grounded, as a writer, in
the world I’ve created.
I will say, though,
that if it’s a writer I particularly admire who has a strong voice of her or
his own, I may shy away from reading until I’ve finished the first draft, not
so much for concern that I’ll start mimicking as that I’ll get so caught up in
that good book that my own manuscript will suffer in my head from the comparison
and I’ll get discouraged. So Catriona’s latest is usually on my
this-will-be-a-reward TBR, as are Terry Shames’, Sara Paretsky’s, Tim
Hallinan’s and a handful of other crime fiction writers whose work always
pleases me.
Good points here, Susan — both about the differences between starting with new character, new idea vs. going back into more familiar territory (easier to read others at that point) and also about the danger of just wanting to keep reading a good book instead of sticking with your writing! I too have a this-will-be-a-reward pile... a good thing to have, to work toward!
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