Being a writer’s a rewarding thing. It’s always thrilling to finally put the ideas and stories floating around in your mind down to paper. There are lots of rewards, but there are also a lot of negatives to go along with those rewards.
One of those is the effect being a writer has on reading and the way I approach a novel. I remember, back in highschool (that’s my disclaimer so I don’t get mocked…) I was watching an episode of Dawson’s Creek and Dawson, a film nut, was whining becuase he was getting so involved in cinema, and the way it’s crafted, that he was no longer able to enjoy movies as a viewer. He spent more time picking them apart, marvelling or critiquing the technique of the filmmaker, and less time being a fan of the medium and getting lost in the movie.
In a lot of ways I know how Dawson felt. As a writer I often find myself watching the the way the author crafts the story, rather than getting involved with the characters/plot. Of course, there is no better way to learn the craft (besides practice, I suppose) than watching and interpreting the masters at work. I learn a lot about the craft by taking in what my favourite authors do – what works in certain situation, how they handle paticularily hard parts of a novel, etc… – but also what they don’t do.
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