KB Inglee
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What Do You Read?

6/23/2014

14 Comments

 
Whenever I meet someone who tells me they want to be a writer, my first question is always, "what do you read?"

The response can be anything from an out-pouring of favorite books and how they relate to the intended writing to a deer in the headlights look and "Read? I said I wanted to write, not read."

I truly believe a writer needs to be a reader.

Taking my own advice, I began to think about how my reading has changed over the years.

In grade school I read mostly horse stories. I knew back then I wanted to write, and I thought my future was with horses and I was partly right. Grandma Whitney gave me a Marguerite Henry book for each birthday and Christmas until there were none left to give.  My father suggested Will James with the idea that I might later graduate to William James. I did, but not for many years. I never read a single Nancy Drew.

In High School I found Sherlock Holmes, first in English Lit, and then tucked into a book case at our summer home. Every year I prepared an elaborate vacation reading list. The Three Musketeers, Edmond Dante and even Alice and the White Rabbit became my summer companions.

I read a bit of modern literature as well. Exodus came out when I was in high school and it took me nearly the whole summer to digest it. I filled in the spaces when I had to put it down with Thoreau and Emerson.

One year I tried Moby Dick. I might have finished it that first summer but my mother told me I was laughing too hard and the book wasn't funny. Well in fact it is. I have been reading it ever since. I have yet to get to the end. I think it is my guilty pleasure. I know the story so I can pick it up at any place and read a bit. I have a copy on my computer and a print book on the floor by my reading chair. I hope I never finish it.

I was in college before I discovered the William James my father had spoken of. As a Psych major, I ran across him in my nonfiction reading. At the same time my boyfriend was taking American Lit, and he introduced me to William’s brother Henry. The James boys became a staple of my reading and writing life. As did my boyfriend.

It was a biography of the James family that propelled me into writing. I had been dabbling in fan fiction, mostly about the TV shows I watched, “Wild Wild West” and “Star Trek.” What I am about to tell you is a secret, so don't pass it on: I had developed a character called Gridunza Moss, the niece of a senator from New Hampshire. She was a feisty lady who was half government agent, half Cambridge intellectual. It was years before Gridunza became Emily Lothorp Lawrence, my first real home grown character.

About the time Gridunza was turning into something more significant, I found that one of my graduate school professors had turned Hosea Ballou (look it up) into a plausible detective. He was the first published mystery fiction writer I knew.

Now I read mostly detective fiction by people I know and nonfiction background for my own writing. I love research.

What do you read?

14 Comments
Tiger Wiseman link
6/23/2014 04:50:10 am

I read almost anything, but mostly mysteries - what I write. Since making friends with so many writers, representing different genres, I've really widened my scope. Never thought I'd read Urban Fantasy but now that I've tried it, I like it.

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KB
6/23/2014 05:07:01 am

Tiger, my very first comment on my new blog. Thank you.

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Cynthia link
6/23/2014 05:03:13 am

"I truly believe a writer needs to be a reader." YES! I'm always saying that to my classes. :)

Great post, and I love your new site.

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KB
6/23/2014 05:17:19 am

I am totally puzzled that people can think writing and reading are two completely separate things.
Thanks for coming by.

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Kara Cerise
6/23/2014 06:16:25 am

I usually read historical mysteries. Occasionally, I read contemporary mysteries/thrillers, romance novels, or non-fiction biographies and history books.

It's a mystery to me why a non-reader would want to write!





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Polly Iyer link
6/23/2014 10:31:31 pm

I love the new website, KB. Clean and attractive. Ah, what do I read. I've always been a thriller/suspense reader, but I love a good story no matter the genre. I always loved Sidney Sheldon, James Lee Burke, Robert Crais, etc., but now I'm trying to read friends' books, though many are outside my genre preference. Part of being a writer is to support writers when we can. Keep up the good work.

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Kaye George link
6/24/2014 01:29:51 am

I always thought I should be a literary writer, since childhood. Then one day I realized I loved reading mysteries. At some point, I woke up! Now I write mysteries, but do other things as well. Maybe not literary, though!

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KB Inglee
6/24/2014 02:12:13 am

Thanks, Kara, Polly.
Kaye, what's wrong with literary fiction having a few murders in it?

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Kaye George
6/24/2014 03:18:19 am

Nothing at all, but if I wrote lit fic, that's not the kind I would like to write. I would write the deep, poetic kind where nothing happens, but the soul is explored and there are beautiful phrases. And no one really knows what it's about, so everyone has an opinion.

Gloria Alden link
6/24/2014 10:13:11 am

kB I started with horse books in elementary school, too. I read every horse book in our small rural school library numerous times before I switched to Albert Payson Terhune's books about collies. My parents belonged to a book of the month club so I read a lot of the books they got. I read Nancy Drew, and over the years I read a lot of different kinds of books, but mysteries were always my favorite. As an older non-traditional student in college, I took every literature or writing class offered so I was always taking an overload of classes. I belong to two book clubs and only occasionally do they pick mysteries so it's safe to say my reading is eclectic; literary, historical, biographies, memoirs, mysteries, etc. I can't imagine a life without books. I don't see how anyone can be a decent writer without reading.

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Gloria Alden link
6/24/2014 10:14:51 am

KB, I forgot to mention how much I love your website. It's beautiful and so tastefully done.

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Rhonda Lane link
6/24/2014 11:44:33 am

Your website is gorgeous, KB! Nice job. So "you." :) Gosh, what do I read? All sorts of things. Another horse book girl. ::waving:: I also wrote fan fic of TV shows: The Wild Wild West and The Man from UNCLE. While a lot of my peers were reading Nancy Drew, I was reading Alistair MacLean, Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt. I was a fan of the Longmire books and TV show before I started working on the PR for Crime Bake. I also read books by Kristan Higgins and other friends. When I was in grad school, the DUNE trilogy hit me like GONE WITH THE WIND hit other girls. I was dumping cinnamon into coffee and imagining I was a Fremen. Good times. And, BTW, welcome to the blogosphere!

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KB Inglee
6/24/2014 07:33:03 pm

Thanks Gloria and Rhonda. I love this site. I am still working out the bugs. But I am moving forward slowly to lower the frustration level.
Isn't reading books by people you know fun?

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Ramona Long link
6/28/2014 03:45:59 am

I love the website! It is indeed very you.

I read mysteries all through childhood, which has served me well as an adult. I also read anything that came my way: my mother's romances, my father's books about sports stars, my brother's science fiction collections, my sister's historicals. I still read anything that comes my way (except maybe not too many sports stars books). Best of luck with the blog and new website!

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    The best advice anyone gave me about writing historicals was that you need to experience what you are writing about. The result has been not only more believable settings but a wonderful job teaching history to kids at living history museums.

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