Melanie Nilles

I love reading as much as I do writing. But writing has taken away a lot of the fun of reading. Writers can be the most critical readers.

Give me a good science fiction or fantasy story, but for me no excessive violence and no sex (sexual tension and a little romance, yes, but I don’t like voyeurism). I love to be swept away by fascinating characters and settings. The problem lies in the fact that I am always trying to improve my own writing and have trained my mind to critique stories. Good for me as a writer. Bad for me as a reader. I catch myself critiquing other books, even the good ones.

Why is it when I find a book with a good story, the writing isn’t so great? Sometimes I can ignore it, like in the Harry Potter books–love ‘em. A story has to be exceptional for me to ignore the prose style, as that does, but JKR’s faults aren’t as obvious as they are for other authors. Other stories have great writing but the story itself lacks something, at least that something that piques MY interests.

The good part is that I see flaws that I may be committing in my writing. A good writer, like any professional in any field, knows they aren’t perfect and always looks for ways to improve. With age comes the realization that you don’t know as much as you thought you did. To put it in those immortal words, “The older I get, the more I realize that the less I know.” Whoever said it first was a genuis. He or she hit it perfectly.

The bad part is that it’s difficult to put aside the writer and simploy enjoy a book as a reader. Therefore, I have become extremely picky about what I read the more I learn about writing well. I always was a bit picky, but it’s worse now. Half the books I buy I end up never finishing.

But I’m looking forward to the last Harry Potter book. At least from reading 1-6, I know 7 will entertain me. Ask me after I read it whether I liked it or not. The point is not the end but the journey.