Why Every Writer Should Read Classics and Older Literature

As a writer, reading a wide variety of stories is critical. You cannot be a writer without also being a reader in some capacity. Whether it be books, magazines, articles, comics, and other forms of reading you will want to read a large variety of whatever you can get your hands on.

By reading, you can learn a great deal to help you write and develop your own voice. Through reading the stories of other writers, you can learn a great deal about writing strengths, weaknesses, what you like and dislike in a story, aspects of plot, character, and many other such things.

Today, I wanted to focus on classic literature and older stories and why writers should still read them to learn how to write. Yes, even the ones that can be difficult to read, there is a good reason for that…

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Why Read Classics?

Now, you’re probably already thinking, if it is an older or outdated form of writing, why try to learn from it instead of what we have today? It is essential to balance the two. The reason why many people (including myself) tend to stick with more modern literature is the wording.

A great deal of older books use far more complex words and sentences which is not only daunting, but it makes one feel rather dumb as the reader has to stop every few seconds for a dictionary. There really is no way around that, there will be words you have to look up, but it is good as a reader and writer to challenge yourself to read these more complex types of stories. I believe this quote by William Faulkner really explains it best.

“ead Read read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter works as an apprentice and studies the master. — William Faulkner

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How Writers can Improve by Reading Classics

Improving Vocabulary

You will probably have to highlight and save words to look up the definitions, to be completely honest I still have to do that a lot. By taking the time to do this while reading classics, you will improve your vocabulary.

Doing this can help you learn to improve your own writing by bringing in new words, but learn how to use them in a sentence properly before putting them into your own works!

Thought-Provoking Plotlines

You will learn a great deal about plotting from the classics, but you will also learn that many stories follow the same general plotline.

There are only so many plots in stories when you cut them down to their most minimal form, for example, the plot of man vs society would take a very different form in today’s writing compared to the past.

By reading classics you will learn a different thought processes from various writers across time periods, which can help you broaden your horizons in writing plots.

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Reading Challenges to the Mind

Classics can be really difficult to read, and they can also have wholly different ways of thinking. Obviously, they were written a different times, with whole different problems.

Even if there are aspects of history you disagree with, learning a variety of perspectives is a good exercise for a creative brain, and also helps build a more realistic and fleshed-out character because let's face it, not every character you write is going to have an agreeable mindset.

Memorable Stories

Thinking over your life, what events tend to stick with you the most? The smaller easy moments, or the things that challenged you?

The stories which challenge you, your worldview, your reading skills, your morals, your thought processes, that overall just challenge you will tend to stick with you the longest. This is why it is important to read such stories, especially as a writer.