Tips for reading fiction

When starting out

• Don't fetishize reading. Read because you enjoy what you're reading, you're getting something out of it, you would do it regardless of whether people will ever know. The rest of this list is about cultivating that internal motivation. 

• Start with short stories. Some people have this strange idea that a short story is in some sense less significant or worthwhile than the "sacred" novel. But that's nonsense. Some stories simply take less time but can still be amazingly effective. And these are perfect for people that are trying to get into reading.

• Find your page-turner genre. "Page-turner" is thrown around all the time by reviewers, and what they mean is that you feel compelled to go to the next page. In the same way you might feel compelled to scroll just a little bit more on an app or play just a little bit more of a video game, a page-turner is something that does that for reading. And this is different for every person! You might really like mystery stories that make you doubt everything or you may really crave hard sci-fi with mind bending ideas. Don't force yourself to like things (more on this as we go).

• Don't ask "Is this good?" Ask "How do/would I like this?" The first question is about the "objective quality of the work of art." That's all well and good, but it's a much different question to simply ask how you personally react to something. Set the bigger, much tougher question of the true value of the thing aside. Just ask yourself what you are getting out of something.

• Don't start with "the classics." You can make your way to the classics if that's where your actual tastes lead. But you shouldn't start off with just thinking, "Well, I have to read Moby Dick, because that's supposed to be one of the greatest of all time!" Chances are you aren't going to engage with it in the same way as the critics who are making those claims. Instead, keep reading what is immediately interesting in the moment. And at one point, you may find yourself saying, "You know, I really am interested in how Melville arguably reinvents what it means to be a novel in the mid 18th century."

• Be ready to give up on a story. Just because you begin something doesn't mean you have to finish it. By the end of the first page, you should really want to know what happens on the second. If you don't feel that, next story.

• Don't read multiple things at once. It is common for people new to reading to get over ambitious and try to read multiple things at once (as in, jumping between things from day to day). This is almost always that the person will give up on one of those things, or (more likely) that they already have but just don't realize it yet. Especially starting out (first handful or stories/books), read only one thing at a time. Let that story take you. If it's not interesting enough to finish before the next thing, then it's not interesting enough to finish full stop. 

• Reading is a skill, and like any skill, it needs to be developed. Don't fall into the trap of thinking reading is some binary (yes or no) attribute that you either have or you don't. Just because you can pick out what letters make what words doesn't mean you're prepared to read anything and everything. Just like sailing, painting, woodworking, etc., the more you do it, the better you will be at it. You'll be able to pick up on more ideas, ask further questions, follow more intricate and nuanced details. And like any skill, there's no finish line. It's not something you should ever feel like you're "done" with. It's something to get better at forever.