Do you try to stay current in your reading, to keep abreast of the market, or do you read from your TBR pile at random? Do you read classic mysteries?
I do try to stay current. Keeping up to date is another thing, though. I have titles in my TBR pile from 3 years ago I haven’t gotten to yet because of a million different reasons, so "current" is a fluid term for me mostly meaning in the current decade.
One way I keep current in recent years is that I’ve been given the opportunity to judge for some major awards. I get sent current books from the major publishers and have been reading over 150 books a year (or at least starting them). It’s getting a little sad because I find myself so at odds with what the mass market is publishing these days that it makes me question everything, especially what I’m writing.
When I read books with a ton of hype, with huge marketing pushes and $30 cover prices and I feel nothing toward them, it makes me wonder how I got so out of step.
I try not to think solely in terms of “Wait, THIS got published and I can’t sell anything to a major?” and instead just examine what makes those books so popular, because the basic facts are that if a certain type of book didn’t sell well, then they wouldn’t be published. So to know what readers are responding to, I feel it is in any writer’s best interest to know what is selling.
Not that it means you should write toward what you think will sell. Not at all. I certainly haven’t cracked the code on that yet. I’ve written books that I think are very mainstream and not at all unlike stuff that is being published in hardback these days only to be reminded that I am, in fact, very wrong (again).
Much of what lands on my TBR pile that I seek out and buy for myself is a mix of books from writers I know and trust will deliver, and recommendations from people I trust. Whether it is bloggers, other authors, friends, if I know we have similar taste, then I’ll trust you to hook me up with a great read. Most years it is hard to even keep up with books from writers I know I like, but I do always try to fit in new voices to expand my reading and discover some hidden gems.
My go-to whenever I get in a reading rut is to hit the ol reset button with a vintage crime novel. I read extensively from the 40s, 50s and 60s. Of course, though I am loathe to admit it, even the 80s are vintage these days. I have a huge shelf of vintage paperbacks I know almost nothing about other than I liked the title and the cover was striking. It’s fun to randomly grab one off the shelf and dive in cold.
Most of what I like about a solid vintage paperback is the economy. These were tight stories told in half the length of most modern novels. They start in action and rarely let up. And they are plot heavy. Very little musing, backstory, info dumps, side stories or overlong descriptions. They get to the story and they keep it moving.
Novel such as this were maligned even in their day as “lesser than” fiction. Quick and easy to write, though I disagree with the easy part vehemently. Efficient storytelling is a lost art and one I think needs to be emphasized by far more writers these days.
So many of the contemporary novels I read take 50, 60, 70 pages of set-up before they reach the actual story. Here’s a hint: if the thing on the back jacket, y’know the plot, the thing that will make someone want to pick up your book in an airport, doesn’t happen until 15 or 20 thousand words in, then everything in that long intro is unnecessary.
And there was far more crime in the crime novels back then. Yes, there were a thousand knock-off Sam Spades and low rent Phillip Marlowes. Yes, there was formula and repetition and imitation. But straight, no chaser, crime novels were plentiful in a way they simply aren’t today. Writers like Lionel White, Harry Whittington, Gil Brewer, Dan J Marlowe, Charles Williams were churning out original stories about crimes and criminals that are unpredictable, exciting and flat-out entertaining. To me, anyway. That becomes a matter of taste. If you love the new trends in "domestic suspense" then you won't find a lot to love from mid-century American fiction. But when I get burned out on current crime novels, which often go extremely light on the crime, turning to a vintage read is just the thing to get me excited again about the genre.
Non-fiction is always a good reset, too. I love reading about music and film and not having to concern myself over plot or whether a story is derivative or not.
So if you want to write, you need to read and read the work of your contemporaries. Not exclusively, but you should know what publishers are buying. Because that will be what people are reading and if you want them to read you, then you need to write something they want. Its all a vicious cycle and none of that takes into account the luck involved, but you have to start somewhere.
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