Going into college as a creative writing student can be a super stressful time of your life. Even if you're not going to college and you're looking to write a book, you might find that you're really not sure how to go about it. My suggestion? Read reference books. They'll help you improve your writing if you're in a classroom setting or not. Reference books can come in many shapes and sizes, sometimes they're simple like a book on grammar (like the Writer's Reference by Hacker Sommers that is designed specifically for grammar in critical writings) or an encyclopedia, maybe even a dictionary. Other times they come with special writing ideas, stylistic suggestions, and complicated answers that might not always work out for you (such as "how to write" books). The only way to know what works though, is to explore and read as much as you can.
1. Your writing always needs improvement.
If you don’t agree with that, well, that’s a whole can of worms I don’t want to get in with you because everyone’s writing needs improvement. Literally everyone's. That’s why we use other readers, workshops, editors, because everyone needs a little help. Reading reference books specific to those things you need help with will allow you to improve in a small way by yourself. This would be a good time to freshen up on grammar skills and rules that may have changed, read up on how characters are rounded out by other writers, or find a good book that gives you an understanding on how to be more consistent with your voice. Take note though that you should still use workshops, beta readers, and editors (especially editors), reference books are just another tool you should be using.
2. It’ll make you a better reader.
The best way to improve your writing is to read. The thing is though, you can read novels every night and day but you might be missing out on some of the moves you could be stealing from these authors because maybe you don’t know how to read. To clarify, I’m sure you know how to read as a reader. But you need to learn how to read as a writer and then utilize both of those perspectives in order to compose work you’ll be satisfied with. Reference books are a great way to start. Some books are even specific for this part of the writing process, such as the book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren called, "How To Read A Book".
3. It's a wonderful way to find new authors to read.
Almost all reference books for writing use passages from successful novels in order to further explain their point. You can even find some writing reference books by certain authors (but those are usually very rare because most of them want to write novels not reference books). Examples being available to a readers can be useful as you’ll be able to find authors you resonate with and then go out and read their novels for further insight. It will also allow you to recognize authors you don’t particularly feel meet your needs and desires as an author, which will allow you to activity avoid them.
5. You get multiple perspectives the more you read.
What I mean by this is that if you’re an avid reference book reader then you’ll be able to cross reference what authors agree and disagree with so then you can make your own judgement call on how to go about writing. Plus it’s less discouraging than reading a single reference book that seems to tell you the “end all, be all” of writing, which isn’t the purpose of writing reference books at all.
Bonus: If you have a disagreement with your professor who’s a published author and you read reference books from other published authors, chance is that a good chunk of them will agree with you. (Note: Don’t argue with your professors, casual debate is suggested, but not straight out arguments.)4. Once you know all the rules, you can break them.
This is something I hold super true to my life, but also find a lot of difficulty with. Creative writing workshops and writers who don’t always seem to understand this. The more you research and learn about techniques and how you can bend them to your will, the more obvious it is in your writing that you meant to do something for stylistic effect rather than it coming across as you don’t have a clue what you’re doing. That being said, the more opinions you get on a "rule" or an stylistic idea, like say you're a huge fan of "passive voice" where the majority of writers and authors are going to disagree with you, it might really change how you view it and if you want to do it all. Reading books that challange your views will really help make or break you as a writer, and expand you as one too.
