Everything I draw ends up wearing a bow-tie

Anonymous asked: I want to write but people keep telling me I should read a lot more first if I'm going to write. Should I just get started or is that true?

Hm, I’d say that’s two parts yes and one part eh.

If you want to write something then the best way to do that is to start writing, however, just as we need to eat food to build, sustain and repair our bodies our brains need to absorb good stories to produce good stories. It isn’t limited to reading; listening to music, watching movies, going for walks etc. all feed into your creativity, but the thing about reading that makes it such fantastic exercise for the mind is that the writer gives you the script but you put on the play. You are given the words, but your mind creates the world; the sounds, the colours, the sticky feeling on the bottom of the main protagonist’s boots when they heave they feet upwards to sludge through that coagulated mud the author just described. You feel and live the world and it is that immersive, self-made quality that makes reading such a vital part of everyday training for a writer.

Solution? Do both. Use one as a break from the other, but don’t forget to have a break from both absorbing and producing- because it is the inbetweens (in the shower, on the verge of sleep, daydreaming on the bus), where you allow your brain to be still and have some time to itself when you truly create.