What to Read to Make You a Better Writer: Classics
By Jacklyn Walters
They say you write what you know.
I say, you write what you’ve been reading recently.
You can usually tell what a writer is reading; it bleeds through to the pages of their own work. You can feel the Beats in the pulse of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” And Jane Austen’s fingerprint in the characters of Virginia Woolf.
What we read—if it’s either any good or really, really bad—gets stuck in our head. An author’s phrasing or rhythm or sentence structure can become part of our vernacular as quickly as a friend’s verbal tick.
This isn’t to say that every author is just ripping off the greats from their TBR, or that there is nothing new under the sun (another phrase taken from a book). Just that our brains expand when we put stuff in them, and all those new ideas need somewhere to go.
So if you’re going to emulate the things you’re reading, you might as well read something good.
You might as well read classics.
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë
The heroine all heroines are based on.
"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being, with an independent will; which I now exert to leave you.”
Give me properly placed semicolons or give me death.
I feel silly giving you summaries of some of the most well-known stories on Earth, but it’s my job so here we go: Jane Eyre was the book written for eldest daughters 180 years before the eldest daughters trope existed. Jane rejects every elder’s attempt to force her to conform to polite society. And there are many attempts, indeed.
No matter her living conditions nor occupation nor whomever is trying to stuff her into the small box that is Victorian womanhood, Jane refuses to become anything but herself.
If for nothing else, read this book to get a glimpse into the minds of difficult women everywhere.
Beloved
Toni Morrison
To what lengths will a character go to protect their family? (It’s probably much farther than co-habitating with a handsome faerie.)
“He licked his lips. ‘Well, if you want my opinion-’
‘I don’t,’ she said. ‘I have my own.’”
Toni Morrison is a god. We were blessed to have her genius on this planet for 88 years. You should read everything she’s ever written and listen to everything she’s ever said.
That said, my first read-through of Beloved was… tough. The story follows Sethe—a woman born a slave and living in a house haunted by the ghost of her baby. Trigger warnings should be implied, but I will give you an extra heads up that this is based on slavery in America and carries with it all of this country’s terrible, gory truths.
It is haunting. It is heavy. It is heartwrenching. It will change the way you think and write probably forever.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
If you haven’t read this since ninth grade English class, it’s time.
“But before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”
Like most of the books on this list, you’re probably deeply familiar with To Kill a Mockingbird. Again, I’m going to remind you about it, anyway.
We follow along as Scout comes to terms with grown-up concepts like prejudice, morality, and empathy, all while her father fights to defend Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly accused of assaulting a white woman. Then there’s Boo Radley, a character I relate to more and more each passing year.
The world is always changing. To Kill a Mockingbird reminds us that we have to fight to make sure it changes in our favor. Even when it’s hard. Even when we lose.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel García Márquez
Magic doesn’t have to mean fantasy. It can be a reflection of the magic of reality. Think ghosts, omens, casual ascension to heaven. Just girly things.
“The world was reduced to the surface of her skin and her inner self was safe from all bitterness.”
One Hundred Years of Solitude chronicles the town of Macondo and the Buendía family that runs it. As the title suggests, the story follows along for a century as different Buendía children repeat many of the same mistakes decade after decade.
Márquez’ structure is what really makes this story shine.
We don’t have to read through the first 20 years to get to the next. The story doesn’t drone on year after year. Instead, we follow each generation through a series of repeated mistakes, which ultimately lead us right back to where we started.
It’s a beautiful juxtaposition of sameness and opposites; of confirmations and contradictions; joy and misery. It holds a mirror to ourselves, to tragedy, and to real life. And is also a reminder to steer clear of your cousins when you enter the marriage market.
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Because 18-year-old authors are worth reading.
“Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.”
You know the story. Everyone knows the story. But in case you forgot, Frankenstein is the doctor not the monster.
Victor Frankenstein meets Robert Walton after spending a few hours alone in the cold and just can’t wait to yap about his entire life all the way up to his newest project while Walton nurses him back to health.
Ultimately, Frankenstein begs the questions: Just because we can, does that mean we should?
Now is as good a time as any to pick this up again, because the first time you read it we probably didn’t yet live among artificial intelligence or the world’s first trillionaire.
If you’ve been staring at your own pages with apathy lately, consider what you’ve been reading. The reason your writing feels boring is probably because you’re reading all the same stuff. If it’s an echo chamber of smut in there, let’s fill it with some “wherefore art thou”s.
Because the more you’re reading different writing styles, the more you’ll be willing to play with language. And the less you’ll be empowered to fill space with words like “like” and “um” and “alphahole.”
It’s time to diversify your palette. It’s time to return to classics.
Honorable Mentions
The above are some of our favorites. But you guys had a lot of great suggestions, too. While I could never elaborate on each and every one of these, for I would be writing this sole blog post until the day I died, I do want to share your contributions.
They are, in no particular order:
White Fang, Jack London
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
Around the World in 80 days, Jules Verne
The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle
The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer
Pride and Prejudice; Northanger Abbey; Mansfield Park; and Persuasion, Jane Austen
1984, George Orwell