/lit/ - Literature

>>11094242
you cant be a writer if you dont read, period.

>>11094242
Are you retarded?

>I've never touched a car but I'd like to build one

>>11094249
And why is that? Aside from the obvious that I have to read my own material

I mean you could write, but it will probably be shit (unless you are a genius, which is unlikely).
Like someone who has never listened to music writing a song.

>>11094242
you have to start reading. try to find some authors that might have similar theme or style that you are interested in.

anyway you can always start writing anytime you want, but reading more and more books certainly help.
>imagine people that had only seen youtube videos, but never seen any movies, then decided to make a film. it will be quite a confusion in the process desu.

>>11094264
Until you've read good literature you can't know what the difference between good and bad literature is, meaning your output will inevitably be bad.

>>11094242
It's worse that that. To become a good writer you not only need to read literary fiction, you even need to read poetry. I'm 100% serious. And not just read it, but study it in detail, and figure out how it works. It's like being stuck in English class again. You already suspect this to be true or you wouldn't have asked. Even if you aspire to nothing greater than erotic Pokemon fanfiction, this knowledge is going to eat away at you and make you think "why can't I write better?" There is no end to the process of self-improvement.

Why would you even want to write if you don't like reading?
Imagine any artist that didn't love the art he made. Ridiculous.

Probably a 1/1000 chance you’ll write something great, 999/1000 chance you’ll write trite garbage.

>>11094242
>Would eating good food help you become a better chef
>would driving a lot help you become a better car engineer
>would study a lot help you become a better teacher

You tell me

wow dude

wow

>>11094306
Instant depression right there..

>>11094318
this, what in the fuck are you doing
start over from scratch

>>11094306
>>11094318
>>11094302
>>11094282
>>11094272

Bullshit.

OP, the other side to this, is people who read a lot and rant about what they are going to write but they actually sit to write one hour and a half per week (if, and only if, they see any possibility to get laid with it in the foreseeable future).
Writing is the most essential thing if you want to write, period. There is no way around it. Write every day for several hours, and you'll be better than most pseuds here. Write your thoughts, describe stuff, write sentences just because they sound good to you. Become familiar with the the act of writing. But it's doing it EVERY DAY, striving to do it better each time, that will make you good at it.
The only insight you can get by reading is to discover new ways of writing and to see how others have explored the possibility of the medium. But I can assure you, writing is way more important than reading. In my experience this has been proved right multiple times. I have graduated in literature among aspiring writers: most of them talked and talked about writing, knew everything about Joyce, and could not finish one short story (and when they did, since they never actually spent their time writing, it was shit). You know who among my friends is a published author? An engineer. A fucking engineer. Who has not read Joyce and in fact read very little throughout his life compared to the /lit/ guys but was writing short stories since he was eight, and kept doing it until his novel came out. And he writes better than all of them will ever do.

If you want to be a writer, write. Write a lot, and write everyday.

>>11094393
read, read, read, read everyday.
(write on weekends)