Tuesday, March 9, 2010

In Which Our Heroine Talks About Her Day

Hi, new followers! *waves*

I know someone of you are here because of my incredible (ha, very funny) dancing on Kody's blog. My challenge (besides reading 100 books in 2010 -- I just got up to #24 and #25 today!) is to dance to every song of her playlist for her new project, Project L. I made videos for her other songs on the playlist (i.e. that Veronicas song I can't name and that Ashley Tisdale one), but YouTube hated me and disabled my sound every time I tried to put them up. So they're on Facebook.

However, besides dancing to music, I write. Kinda. Well, most of the time.

Today, however I hung out with my guy BFF Dan and we went to Border's. Yeah, that's right. My guy BFF Dan and I spend time hanging out in Border's. (Don't worry we also do normal stuff like talk for hours and play with the Wii.) We spent about two hours in there. I ended up reading Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers as well as The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate. I liked them both. :-)

But truthfully, I read them as research.

My current WIP is what I'd like to call a mix between The Hate List by Jennifer Brown, Some Girls Are and The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove.

And in order for me to really love my WIP even more than I already do, I needed to read those books. I needed to combine them in my head so I could figure out my little WIP. Enjoying those books is just an added bonus. Because I do love those books and I know my WIP is not completely like any of them, but yet it has qualities *of* them. Because nothing is a completely original idea anymore. (sighs wistfully)

So my question to you is: Do you read other books that are similar to yours when you're exploring/loving/writing your WIP? Or do you avoid the genre at all costs?

12 comments:

  1. Since my genre is basically all I ever read anyway I have the choice of not reading while writing (which is an awful, awful choice) or taking the chance and trusting myself not to plagiarize. Plus, I'm more of a craft analyzer, if that makes any sense. Anyway - I totally loved your dance to Celine Dione. It was all kinds of awesome. ;)

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  2. SO YOU'RE KODY'S DANCER!! AMAZING! hahaha

    Also, I will read at any point in the WIP Timeline. I kind of can't get enough of the genre in general, but maybe that's because I didn't know it existed until I wrote a YA. Now I'm hooked, yo. Reading to me is sort of like a writing energy drink.

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  3. I currently don't so much as read the same type of genre that I'm writing but more of reading books with the same type of writing style. I'm currently working on something that's first person, present tense and I find it helps if I surround myself with that type of reading. Oh, and I totally loves Some Girls Are! Good luck on your WIP!

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  4. Lol..like I tweeted, I'm a little scared now after reading Some Girls Are and experiencing major trauma to my self-esteem..how can my little bullying WIP match up? So, while I'm usually fine with it, I won't be reading any novels related to addiction while I work on my other WIP.

    (yes,I'm a total chicken!)

    BTW--your WIP sounds right up my alley--WOOT!

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  5. Sumayyah: I know what you mean. All I read when I was writing my first novel was fantasy YAs not because I was writing it but because I loved it anyway. :)

    Amy: Yes, yes, it is I!!!!! ;) I think its interesting you say that reading is writing fuel for you because I know some writers who actually can't read at all when they're writing.

    Nicole: I know what you mean about reading similar tense/POV books. SGA helped me realize that maybe this WIP needs to be in present tense versus past. (Maybe.)

    houndrat: I'm sorry I'm not dancing. Its a bit too soon, I'm afraid. But I promise soon! I know what you mean!! I read SGA and am now freaking out that I should never write a high school novel again because Courtney Summers is amazing at it. *blushes* Thanks. WIP says he loves you. ;)

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  6. Personally, I don't mind it, because it normally doesn't affect my own writing, but I've heard of authors who refuse to read their own genre while writing.

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  7. Steph: Yeah, I've heard of that too. Right now I'm reading Mistwood *points to picture in right hand corner* and its high high high fantasy (YA), completely opposite of my WIP. Its weird. I don't know if I like reading so far out of my genre...

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  8. lol yeah i came here cos i saw your dancing video. Fear not, it is a very awesome promotional video for your blog.

    I read books from all genres and but I do tend to read books that somehow relate to my WIP, for research purposes.

    Btw awesome dancing lol Wish i could dance that good

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  9. When I am deep into my WIP -- more than halfway through, and within a month or so of finishing that first draft -- I try not to read books that are in the same genre (middle-grade contemporary), not because I'd be afraid of those books influencing my work, but because of the Doubt Factor ("Look, their stories are SO GOOD ... and mine stinks. What made me think I could be a writer?"). I suspect I'm not the only one who deals with doubt at some point in writing their WIP. I do read tons of middle-grade (contemporary and otherwise) throughout the rest of the year, along with YA.

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  10. Glen: Do you read for research (i.e. historical texts) or do you read pleasure books as research?

    Jeni: After reading SGA, I am pretty sure I'm never writing a high school novel again. It was SO good! lol ;-) (But then I realized mine was different) But yes I know what you mean. Self-doubt! Iccck.

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  11. I don't read much when I'm writing or editing. In between projects, I practically eat books. So, I guess that makes me a binge reader? Fun post!

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  12. Samantha: A binge reader? I binge read too. ;-) All the time. Whether I am writing or not.

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