Some students believe they can be writers without reading. This raises many questions

Wanting to write without wanting to read is, at best, trying to skip the first stage of an artistic apprenticeship

I read recently, in the context of an essay on expertise in making sushi, about the three stages of Japanese craftsmanship: learning to follow the rules; understanding when and how to break the rules; commanding expertise that rises above the rules.

I’m always suspicious of European summaries of Japanese thinking. A great deal is lost in translation, and the cultural contexts are so different that even an accurate translation might be hard to recognise. Even so, the idea of these stages felt recognisable to me.

I’ve been writing fiction and teaching creative writing for many years. Sometimes I encounter students who believe they can be writers without reading, or without being serious or enthusiastic readers. This raises many questions for me: why would you want to write if you don’t love to read? How do you imagine you will learn to write better if not by reading other writers’ better writing? Where, exactly, do you think writing comes from?

Some people want to “be writers” without wanting to work on writing. The writers they want to be seem to achieve fame and fortune – neither likely outcomes of a life devoted to literature – fuelled by “inspiration” that descends from the heavens with no effort required. They sometimes claim that reading would pollute this inspiration, exerting unwelcome influence on their pure voices.

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