Mike MacDee
Read everything that even remotely catches your interest, even if it isn't in a genre you ever plan to write in. There are a number of reasons for this:
1) The broader your interests, the more ideas you'll have.
2) Your "author voice" is basically a brick house built from the houses of other authors who influenced you. Writing is a craft like anything else, and you only get good at it by practicing and by experiencing how it was done by those who came before you.
Get a mix of good and bad books, too. It's important to understand why good writing works, versus why bad writing doesn't work. And absolutely stay away from reading fan-fiction and creepypasta, because they have no quality control and can only teach you bad writing habits. Even the best examples can't teach you much.
1) The broader your interests, the more ideas you'll have.
2) Your "author voice" is basically a brick house built from the houses of other authors who influenced you. Writing is a craft like anything else, and you only get good at it by practicing and by experiencing how it was done by those who came before you.
Get a mix of good and bad books, too. It's important to understand why good writing works, versus why bad writing doesn't work. And absolutely stay away from reading fan-fiction and creepypasta, because they have no quality control and can only teach you bad writing habits. Even the best examples can't teach you much.
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