A Reading Buffet

Guest post by Sharon Wagner

Read Like You're Standing in a Buffet Line of Steaming Hot Books

We all have a preferred genre as readers, and whether you follow the advice of your gut, guru, accountant, agent, or publisher, as writers, it’s advisable to stick to one genre as well. Unless you’re Silvia Moreno Garcia, who transcends being pigeonholed and leaps between gothic horror, noir, fantasy, and historical works with curious acumen. Wouldn’t it be fun to nail each genre like she does? Placing your butt in a chair to write every day would never be boring. Genre blending isn’t new, but jumping from one category to another is especially difficult. But if you do it well, fans may follow you across categories, and even if we must write in one genre to please our fans and audience, we can still read across genres and media.

"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed." - Mark Twain

Read like you’re standing in the buffet line at the local steak place, and make sure your plate is a heaping rainbow of Jello salad, pickled beets, pasta salad, and creamy potato salad. Sure, you can omit the mealy off-season tomatoes, but don’t forget the soup. I’d argue that your literary feast should be just as varied, with newspapers, magazines, writer’s articles, a smorgasbord of fiction and nonfiction books, and maybe even advertisements or horoscopes. I mean, you never know where you’ll find inspiration.

“Newspapers are horror happening to other people.”
~ Nadine Gordimer

Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I like to read paper books and news that smudges your fingers and is damp on the sidewalk after the rain. The print needs to be gray to the point of vanishing like invisible ink, and the paper needs unrolling and recycling. God help me, sometimes the newspaper arrives inside a plastic bag. I’m eco in many ways, but this is my literary sin. Besides, what would we put in front of the litter box if not for a newspaper?

Reading the Star Tribune’s Science and Health section (which is sadly no longer inside the Star Tribune) offered random scientific data to plump my alien character from my debut novel, The Levitation Game. Did you know birds have a molecule behind their eyes that may allow them to see the Earth’s magnetic field? Thanks to a timely article about the mystery of bird migration, my character, Dob-Dec, became fascinated by how Earth’s avians navigate long distances, and don’t get him started on those eye molecules. I don’t read many nonfiction books, but I love birds, and
reading Jennifer Ackerman’s The Genius of Birds also feathered the nest of my alien character. Weird, right? Before writing and publishing my novel, I worried I couldn’t create an alien genius like I imagined otherworldly visitors to be. So, I made a slightly dim-witted alien smarter than most humans, and a bird book helped me do it. Birds are so intelligent! Who knew that being a bird brain was a compliment?

Now, I’m writing a book about green witches, and scientific newspaper articles about iconic Sequoia trees, green burial, and the symbiosis between plants and humans are all fodder for my tree-hugging Coven and I have the newspaper delivery people to thank for those gems.

“Read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river.” ~ Lisa See

I’ve even found ideas inside recipe books. I studied several books on modern-day witchcraft while researching my upcoming novel, The Savannah Book of Spells. I bought the book Witchcraft Cocktails by Julia Halina Hadas for research purposes only. Okay, maybe for me as well. I mean, cocktails are already fun and delicious, but imagine infusing them with ritual and magic, too? My witchy characters agreed with my philosophy, and a new chapter was born. My witchcraft research taught me much about helpful flowers, plants, herbs, trees, and crystals. Here are a few natural items that might help writers:
​
~ Borage The beautiful blue starflower can help you feel at ease, process information, and express yourself. Add the dried flower to incense and herbal blends, or carry it as a talisman.

~ Mugwort When brewed into tea, the magical plant can help you remember your dreams, and writers often use dreams to enhance their writing. Without first dreaming about levitating over my bed, leading to a (strictly nocturnal) city-wide power failure before collapsing into my sheets, I never would have written The Levitation Game.

~ Mint Have you heard of this exotic herb? It’s associated with money, prosperity, and communication.

~ Birch Witches use this tree for creativity and writing. The thin bark resembles paper, and a good witch/writer uses it for writing spells. I know what you’re thinking. Is there a spell to attract good reviews? You’ll have to do your own research to find out.

~ Labradorite It’s the stone for intuition, communication, and mental clarity. Writers might want to keep this stone on their writing desk. But if the stone doesn’t help your alertness or clarity, you can always return to the well-used coffee plant! Witches love it, too.

Of course, I find inspiration and intel in almost every book I read, and I mark the passages or write notes on my iPhone when I discover bookish treasure. I don’t want to forget a character quirk like in Emily Jane’s character-driven and humorous book, On Earth As It Is On Television, where a woman puts bacon on everything, including cupcakes. After reading Isabel Allende’s adventure-filled City of the Beasts, I knew I had to write a novel about the mysteries of the inner Earth someday since she created such a vivid underworld. Benjamin Percy did such an out-of-this-world job with the space portal science in his book, The Sky Vault, that I think he may have stumbled into one and met Albert Einstein before popping back out. Trust me, if you’re writing a book about portals to another dimension, you must read his book.

“Birds have wings. Humans have books.” ~ Unknown

As writers, we know we need to read like it’s our part-time job, and broad is better. By reading a buffet of books, you might acquire a mysterious molecule that works like a light sensor, clarifying your work. Words will stick to your brain, and inspiration will surely wing its way straight into your writer’s cortex. If you’re ever feeling stuck or uninspired, open a random book, fortune cookie, bathroom stall magazine, or flyer for a free car wash. Crane your neck to a flogo (airplane advertising banner) and see where it takes you. After all, books and such really are a portal to another literary dimension. If you don’t know how literary portals work, don’t ask me; ask Benjamin Percy.

---

Sharon Wagner is a supernatural writer, inexhaustible travel blogger, spirit investigator (liquid, not ethereal), cat wrangler, and former illustrator of children’s books, including Maya Monkey.
Creative from birth, she never stops dreaming of magical worlds to unravel with words. When she’s not wandering the jungles of Central America, she lives in Minneapolis and Naples with her husband and two naughty cats. Her debut novel, The Levitation Game, won the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award for Science Fiction. Sharon’s short story, Default 666, received an honorable mention in the 93rd Annual Writer’s Digest Competition.
Sharon’s upcoming novel, ​Chorus of Crows, will launch in 2026 with Dreamsphere Books! Discover more at https://sharonwagnerbooks.com/