Why it's important to read bad books

There's a reason it's so hard to absorb narrative technique by example when you limit yourself to reading classics and favorites ... plus more smart ideas about writing from my curation bucket.

Hey, y’all—

Want to be a better writer? Read more bad books.

Here this week to explain why this is crucial to your development is Alan Moore, widely hailed by peers and critics as one of the world’s best comic book writers.

So please, join me in discovering how your reading choices can most effectively boost your writing prowess, in our practice of The Writes of Fiction.

Read more terrible books

“Whereas a generally helpful reaction to a piece of work that you’re reading is: ‘Jesus Christ, I could write this ****.’ That is immensely liberating, to find somebody who is published who is doing much, much worse than you.”—Watch Alan Moore on this clip from BBC Maestro.

More on reading to grow as a writer:

3. Read “bad” authors. What makes writing good? What makes it bad? Why is Dan Brown a bestseller despite the fact that his writing routinely gets slammed? Find out for yourself.

8. Read a good series and a bad series. Find out how to successfully sustain an overarching story over multiple books. Find out what happens when you don’t.

9. Read the thing that everyone hates. Find out why everyone keeps reading it anyway.

—Read the rest at 10 kinds of books anyone who writes fiction should be reading.

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The best-kept secret for new writers

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The next Office Hours call is May 9—plenty of time to get on board and join The Writes of Fiction community as a paid subscriber.

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