National Read a Book Day: A Writer Who Reads Everything

I own thousands of physical books. I own over 200 Star Trek novels in hardcover.

I have shelves of science fiction, fantasy, thriller, literary fiction, memoir, and nonfiction covering subjects from World War II history to film craft to business strategy. More on the books that shaped how I write. I own thousands of films and have written analysis guides covering over 200 of them. I consume stories the way other people consume oxygen: constantly, across every medium, and with the awareness that every story I take in makes the next story I write better.

National Read a Book Day is September 6th. For most people it’s a reminder to pick up a book. For me it’s a regular Wednesday.

But the day matters because reading is in decline, and reading is the single most important thing a writer does besides writing. If you write without reading, you’re working with a vocabulary of one: your own. Every book you read expands what you know is possible on a page.

Reading as Craft Development

I don’t read for entertainment. For more, see national library card signup month. I read for craft.

When a scene works, I stop and ask why. When dialogue reveals character without stating it, I study the technique. When a chapter ending makes me turn the page against my will, I reverse-engineer the structure that produced that compulsion. When a book fails, I identify exactly where and why it lost me, because understanding failure teaches as much as studying success. For more, see national coloring book day.

This is how I developed the craft principles that drive my writing handbooks.

The Dialogue Handbook didn’t come from a textbook. It came from decades of reading dialogue that worked and dialogue that didn’t, identifying the patterns, and codifying them. The Pacing Handbook came from studying why some 800-page novels feel fast and some 200-page novels feel slow. The Conflict and Tension Handbook came from analyzing what keeps readers locked into a story versus what lets them put the book down.

Every writer I coach hears the same advice in our first session: read more. (See also my review of Readings for Writers) Read widely. Read outside your genre. Read the writers you admire and figure out what they’re doing. Read the writers you dislike and figure out why. The reading is the foundation.

What does reading do to your brain?

The cognitive benefits of reading are well documented. Regular readers develop stronger vocabulary, sharper comprehension, and better critical thinking. But for writers, the benefits go deeper.

Reading builds an unconscious library of structural patterns. After you’ve read a hundred novels, you internalize how stories work at an architectural level without needing to consciously analyze every choice. You absorb pacing, paragraph rhythm, scene transitions, and narrative voice through exposure. The more varied your reading, the more flexible your internal library becomes.

Reading also builds empathy, which drives fiction. Living inside characters who are nothing like you, seeing the world through perspectives you’d never encounter in your own life, that exercise develops the ability to write characters who feel real because the writer understands how different kinds of people think and feel.

Beyond craft, reading is stress relief. The act of focusing on a narrative pulls attention away from the anxieties of daily life. It’s active enough to engage the mind and calm enough to reduce cortisol. For writers who spend their days producing words, reading is both professional development and recovery.

Print, Digital, and Audio

I prefer physical books. I like the weight, the texture, the ability to flip back thirty pages to check a detail. My Star Trek collection fills multiple shelves. The film analysis library fills more. There’s something about a physical book on a shelf that a file on a device doesn’t replicate: it’s visible, it’s present, and it reminds you of the experience of reading it every time you see the spine.

But the format matters less than the reading. An audiobook consumed during a commute is better than a physical book sitting unread on a nightstand. A Kindle loaded with novels is better than a bookshelf used for decoration. The point is to consume stories without fetishizing the delivery mechanism.

All formats count on National Read a Book Day. Whatever gets you reading is the right choice.

What to Read

Read what interests you. That’s the only rule that matters for casual readers.

For writers, the rule is different: read what challenges you. If you write science fiction, read literary fiction to study character depth. If you write thrillers, read literary fiction to study prose quality. If you write literary fiction, read thrillers to study pacing. Every genre does something well that other genres don’t, and cross-genre reading imports those strengths into your own work.

Read the classics, but don’t read them because you’re supposed to. Read them because they survived for a reason, and understanding that reason teaches you something about what endures. My analysis of the twenty greatest novels examines why each one is culturally important and what makes it work at the craft level.

Read new releases to stay current with what audiences expect and what the market rewards. Read debut novels to see what publishers are investing in. Read independently published work to see what risks authors take when nobody is filtering their choices.

Read outside of fiction entirely. History, science, biography, philosophy. The more you know about the real world, the more convincing your fictional worlds become. My World Builder’s Handbook emphasizes that the best speculative fiction is built on real knowledge underneath the invention.

September 6th

September 6th is National Read a Book Day. If you’re a reader, you don’t need a holiday to pick up a book. If you’re a writer who doesn’t read enough, consider this your reminder that the craft you’re trying to develop lives inside the books you haven’t opened yet.

For writers developing their skills, my writing handbooks cover every element of fiction and nonfiction craft. For one-on-one guidance, book coaching is available. Start with a conversation.

National Read a Book Day FAQ

Related from the writer’s calendar: D.E.A.R. Day: Drop Everything and Actually Read. Related from the writer’s calendar: Library Shelfie Day: Your Bookshelf Is a Self-Portrait.