[Guest]

do you read books "as a writer"? IOW how much has being a writer changed the way you enjoy books, if at all?

 

[Andykay]

I find it pretty tough not to analyse as I read these days. I find myself deconstructing why I do or don't enjoy a specific book. It also means I tend to be awed by different things than I used to. I never used to get floored by amazing prose like I occasionally am now.

But funnily enough, the effect has been more pronounced on films than books for me. In the last few years, I've become much harder to please when going to the cinema. I'll walk out of a movie that all my friends enjoyed, and have a litany of plot problems that utterly ruined it for me, and that nobody else noticed or cared about.

 

[Kia Zi Shiru]

I read as both, though I enjoy books that I read as a reader more.
It fully depends on how well the story is written, if I don't get "pulled out" of a story by things I read as a reader, but when I keep getting pulled out of it I read as a writer because I suddenly realise the techniques or other things of the story.

 

[Mathew Reuther]

I can choose.

Some things will always slip through, but if I'm trying to be a reader, they need to be relatively bad. (I tend to find typos and the like no matter what, but I always have.)

 

[Simon Haynes]

When reading for enjoyment I try really hard not to engage my writer brain.  Sometimes it takes a few minutes, but eventually I see past the language, sentence structure and so on, and get into the book itself.

 

[Quiss]

I find that I can no longer work in my own genre without analyzing.
No problem in other genres, which is fine because I tend to read thrillers or historical fiction

 

[Janet Michelson]

It's difficult for me to avoid evaluating cover, title, font, and formatting. If I can get past those items, the big test awaits: editing. It's nearly impossible for me to read a book that is poorly edited. If the errors are minimal, I can push through the first chapter or two, and by then the storyline has to grab me in order for me to read the rest of the book.

I wish there was a way to turn off the editing switch in my brain. 

 

[RoseInTheTardis]

I mostly read as a reader although when a book isn't great sometimes it's hard to turn off the writer part of my brain that wants to take out a red pen and correct things or make notes.

And sometimes when I really like the way a writer handles a certain type of scene (action, or description, or dialogue) I'll make the page and come back later to study it as a writer.

 

[_Sheila_]

I'm a reader when reading for enjoyment.  

I've purchased books and read them with an eye for learning about writing.  I've also read books by very well known authors and asked myself how they got to where they are... but for the most part I can put that aside and read for pleasure.

Sheila

 

[Cheryl M.]

It took me a while to be able to read as a reader again. But it does come back if it's something you face. You still have the problem of higher expectations though. Expecting halfway decent writing won't leave you, so the amount of readable-to-you books shrinks dramatically. Heh. I guess the analyzing goes away because you simply don't need to anymore; you discover your minimum tolerance level and stick to it.

If you can't catch me by the end of the first chapter, you won't catch me at all. And if you can't keep me every chapter, I will put the book down. I never would've done that before - I would finish a book simply because I started it, no matter how awful. I don't analyze writing anymore, but I've also learned I don't need to torture myself just because I spent money on the book.

And no, it's not action I need. I need good writing and good story, or something has to be there to make the not-so-good parts tolerable enough to keep reading. I have to be motivated and intrigued to keep going. I like a lot of books that aren't "superwriter" because the author still did something right--they did something well enough to keep me engaged and forced me not to pay close attention to the bad. But I need to see it immediately, and it can't be a fluke. Every chapter is a chapter I'm willing to put the book down, so every chapter needs to have whatever it is that kept me reading the previous chapter.

I find that every writer has their strengths and weaknesses--even the "superwriter." When a writer knows their strengths and plays to them, they are much better at hiding their weaknesses. Which makes for much better reading.

 

[Nick Endi Webb]

My default mode is reader mode, unless the writing is bad, then I notice.

If the writing is stupendously amazing, I also slip into writer mode, but more out of awe, envy and, "how can I write like this?!?!".

 

[Zoe Cannon]

I can't make the distinction. There's not a reader part of me and a writer part of me; there's just me, and I'm both. So while I don't read books for enjoyment the same way I would read a draft that I'm trying to pick apart, the more I learn about writing the harder it is to find books I can enjoy, because I see all the flaws. However, I think I might finally be getting to a point where I can see the flaws in a book and enjoy it anyway. I can hope.

 

[J Dean]

Depends on what I'm reading.  If I'm reading nonfiction, usually not.  If I'm reading fiction, I do, but I try not to let it interfere with the story.

Same with music: when I listen, I listen as a perfect-pitch musician evaluating what I hear and analyzing it.  It's not easy for me to just enjoy a song for the sake of enjoying it.