How Reading Books Will 10X Your Writing and Creativity
Especially if you have been in a slump
Reading one book helped me come up with over fifty writing ideas.
That’s right, over fifty ideas.
Of those ideas, I currently have ten drafts that I am working my way through. This one book helped free me from a creativity slump and writing rut that has been going on for most of July and August now.
What book was it? Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. (AF Link)
Here’s the thing. The ideas I came up with have nothing to do with Scotland, hunky highlanders, or even fiction for that matter.
What it did do was prime the pump to think creatively. When I started reading this 600+ page novel, I began to experience the amount of creativity the author poured into that work.
This creativity started working in the back of my mind and one day, while writing down 10 ideas, they started flowing!
More on my 10–5–1 Writing Method:
Before the Novel
Looking back at the beginning of the year, I felt like I didn’t need to read as many books as I did the previous year. I felt like I was getting lots of information from blog posts and Medium articles.
Then, as the year went on, creativity and writing started to dwindle. I found myself repeating a lot of information I was reading instead of finding new ways to work things out.
The well was drying up and I couldn’t figure out why.
In fact, I have had the hardest time in the last couple of months to write. Even though I have had a content calendar and a lot of ideas, I couldn’t settle in on a project or focus.
That’s when I turned to read more books instead of blog posts and articles on the internet.
Why Books Feed Our Creativity and Writing
When I look back at the last couple of weeks, I saw that it was reading books that started fueling my creativity and my writing.
As I said earlier, I wasn’t reading books within a niche, it was simply a novel. As I worked my way through it, I began to see the world differently again.
Sure, I am reading nonfiction as well. These books have helped me get back on track with creative thinking and looking for new ways to do things too.
Ultimately, there are three main reasons why reading books feeds our creativity and writing.
No.1— Books Stand-Alone
There are a lot of blog posts, Medium articles, and things that stand-alone too. But books are forced to stand alone with new ideas and a clear message more than anything else.
Outlander for example has to keep your attention all the way through. Otherwise, you will put it down, add it to the bookshelf, or throw it out.
Online information works hard to grab us, get us to skim, and then let us go. So often, I was reading the same points in ten different articles.
That gets old and it started to make me think I was okay doing that too.
No.2 — Books Hold Our Attention
Well, the good ones anyway. They hold our attention and get us to read long past the time we were planning to stop.
I’m sure you are like me where you have read late into the night because a book was so good.
It is in this quality that books help improve our creativity and writing because we are thinking about them longer. They stay in our minds long after we set the book down.
No.3 — Books Bring Closure or Keep Us Wanting More
When I finish a novel I either feel like there was a good resolution and I loved the book. Or, I am starving for more stories about the main characters.
Tom Clancy used to write these amazing books about his character Jack Ryan. In almost every book, I felt such a sense of finality to the story.
Yet, with the Harry Potter stories, I didn’t want the story to end. This kept me coming back for more, or even reading the books again.
These two characteristics help us write better fiction and nonfiction pieces along with an ark that will do the same thing: bring finality and/or keep us longing for more.
Final Thought
I am sure there are a lot of other ways reading books have helped bring back my creativity and writing. Yet, the three things I have shared have been the main ones for me.
Books help us to be better writers because they stand alone, hold our attention, and give us finality or longing for more.
When we write like this, it improves our writing. It helps us write better stories. And it gives us greater satisfaction in what we write as well.
Have you seen other ways that reading books have fueled your creativity and writing? Share in the responses below.
Jack Heimbigner loves to see people’s lives change and see them chase their dreams. Check out his Maximize Your Morning email course to start chasing your dreams today!