: Re: Does reading books help writing skills? Just what the title says. I decided to improve my writing skills only for blogging purposes (for starters and no, it's not a part of new year's resolution).

Short answer: Yes.

Slightly longer answer: Yes, a lot! All reading is good, but not all reading is equal. All reading will help you absorb the effective use of written language, will increase your facility with words, will enhance your vocabulary, etc.

But if you're really serious, you should spend at least some of your time in conscious, directed reading in the genre of your choice. Fiction writers don't just read the masters, they study the masters. They break down the plot structure of great books in order to understand how things flow; they look at characterization and dialogue, and see how great authors use these tools to create compelling reading; they analyze the strengths and weaknesses of different books, and try to understand why the great books are great.

In your case, you want to become better at blogging, so you should not just read but study blogs. Find blogs you enjoy, and figure out why. Find blogs you don't enjoy and spend just as much time analyzing the problems there, so you'll know what to avoid. You want to work on clarity, so I would recommend looking at the structure of the blogs you find effective. You're not reading for content so much as you're reading for style and technique.

And, while you're at it, read everything else you lay eyes on. Writers read. Absolutely.

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: Re: Does reading books help writing skills? Just what the title says. I decided to improve my writing skills only for blogging purposes (for starters and no, it's not a part of new year's resolution).

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: I think when you use the word 'copying' in your question, you've already got your answer. It's his style, and I agree, it works for him. But that doesn't mean it would work for you!

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