In a world flooded with tales—books, exhibits, movies, and infinite social content material—it’s straightforward to fall into passive consumption. However as writers and creatives, what we absorb issues simply as a lot as what we put out. To write down with depth, readability, and resonance, we should first study to learn extra deliberately and watch with higher consciousness. Intentional consumption isn’t about being inflexible or “intellectual.” Quite, it’s about selecting tales that problem us, feed us, and replicate the form of storytelling we would like, in flip, to create.

Earlier this month, I supplied a put up about “Why Intentional Storytelling Issues in an Period of AI and Algorithm-Pushed Content material.” It was an exploration of all the explanations intentional storytelling has at all times mattered and maybe issues greater than ever in our trendy period of ultra-speed and handy shortcuts. The primary touch upon that put up (amongst many in a splendidly wealthy dialogue) was from Heather J. Bennett who wrote:

It’s additionally an issue with lazy readers who aren’t taking the time to decelerate and skim the story because it’s written. … Their consideration spans for studying for the nuance of the storytelling is shorter with comprehensible life priorities and needing to get issues carried out.

This instantly spoke to one thing I used to be already occupied with, which is that intentional consumption—studying and watching—is simply as vital, if no more so, than intentional creation. Nevertheless, this isn’t to separate writers from shoppers or counsel “others” ought to bear the blame for “unhealthy” tales being all too acceptable to the market. In any case, we as writers are at first members of that very same viewers. To the diploma we search to create intentional artwork—artwork that that’s “on function” and for a cause—then it is a reminder that our studying/watching decisions not solely inform the final market, but additionally the standard of what we’re inputting into our personal experiences and the way that that impacts the output in our writing.

In This Article:

How Does What You Learn and Watch Form Your Writing?

Which is extra vital: writing deliberately or studying deliberately?

It’s form of a chicken-and-egg query, however in the end I imagine intentional media consumption is extra vital. Why? As a result of the personalised panorama of our particular person media consumption is the fertile floor out of which grows all the things we would hope to create. Somebody who chooses media with the utmost intention is unlikely to then create with out intention. Even when they did, I’ve to imagine the cautious consideration to enter would nonetheless favorably influence the output.

Briefly, we’re what we learn (and watch).

Little question, you’re conversant in the suggestion that you’re the common of the 5 folks you’re round probably the most. Your media consumption impacts you simply as enormously. It’s value analyzing 5 of the exhibits you watch most frequently and 5 of the sequence you most wish to learn (or maybe for simplicity’s sake, the sort of exhibits and books you most get pleasure from) and contemplating how they’ve “made” you—for higher or worse.

You can too consider it like this: your writing is unlikely to rise above the typical high quality or thematic messaging of what you learn and watch. Extra crucially, consuming low-quality media dangers the dulling of your self. And if nothing else, even when the impact is impartial, you could cope with the truth that in not asking extra of your media, and due to this fact of your self, you’re lacking potential alternatives to boost your self.

How Studying and Watching Low-High quality Content material Impacts Your Writing

Intentional media consumption impacts everybody, however as writers, our interplay with media has the potential to create a higher ripple impact. Not solely do our media decisions have an effect on us personally (which, after all, essentially impacts our writing), additionally they immediately form our personal works of fiction.

The one best rule of thumb in relation to questioning whether or not you’re studying and watching critically is to contemplate whether or not or not you’re studying or watching together with your soul.

Essentially, what I imply by that is that engagement ought to deliver a sure spark of aliveness. What you learn or watch ought to make you are feeling alive.

Media is nourishment for our minds and souls. Simply as with the bodily nourishment of meals, we have now to contemplate whether or not we’re getting sufficient high quality vitamins. Are we consuming junk content material or “actual” content material? Simply as with junk meals, it’s true sufficient all of us have a tendency towards a gentle spot for junk leisure.

What’s junk leisure?

• Empty energy which might be satisfying-but-not-satisfying.
• Provides nothing of actual worth.
• Presumably leaches invaluable vitamins (i.e., time, happiness, contentment, positivity).
• Unusually however inarguably addictive.

This isn’t to say the occasional cheat day isn’t a worthy a part of our lives, however a gradual food regimen of something that isn’t actively including worth is, at greatest, a waste and, at worst, actively dangerous to each ourselves, our potential readers, and inevitably the collective.

Do Tales With Agendas Hurt Good Storytelling?

We are likely to blame a lot of our present dissatisfaction with trendy media on the truth that storytelling has grow to be ever extra polarizing and political. It isn’t unusual for the discharge of even probably the most popcorn-y of all leisure—the summer season blockbuster—to be bulldozed by political rants of all persuasions. It may be tough to have interaction with trendy media with out guarding in opposition to intrusive messaging (and that will even be earlier than we all know what the messaging could also be).

Many individuals cry out that tales shouldn’t be autos for political and social agendas and may get again to being “only for enjoyable” or “simply leisure.” (However perhaps you already know what I take into consideration the “simply” phrase in entrance of tales…)

I don’t imagine that is the issue. Tales have at all times been political. By their very nature as an inherently transformational expertise, they’ll’t be anything. (By no means thoughts that the easy act of reporting on the human situation can also be inherently—and infrequently dangerously—political.)

Neither is the issue that “actual” tales and “vital” tales shouldn’t be enjoyable. Certainly, I can’t assist however assume that probably the most wildly entertaining style tales are these with the most potential for impacting humanity—not solely by way of their sheer accessibility but additionally by way of their pure tendency towards the easy depth of the archetypal expertise.

No, for my part, what we’re in the end reacting in opposition to—and, out of sheer exhaustion, more and more placing up with—are particular developments which have taken us away from the true coronary heart—the true soul—of what story actually is.

Problematic storytelling units we must always take heed to when consuming (and shouldn’t excuse) embody:

• Plot-driven tales that neglect character arcs (i.e., characters made to serve plots fairly than plots made to serve characters).
• Leisure-first storytelling vs. creative integrity (i.e., looking for tales that can supposedly promote vs. writing tales of originality and private depth).
• Flat stereotypes vs. wealthy archetypes (i.e., writing tropes and plot formulae vs. assembly, understanding, and mining the deeper archetypal knowledge of story transformation).
• Storytelling as a substitute of story channelling (i.e., creating tales primarily or completely from our left mind’s logic vs. listening to what desires to return by way of the correct mind).

What Does It Imply to Learn Extra Deliberately as a Author? (7 Suggestions)

In some ways, I feel studying and watching critically is definitely extra tough than conscious storytelling. Partly, it’s because we regularly really feel we have now much less management over what media is positioned earlier than us to eat versus what we are able to consciously select to create. Principally, nonetheless, it’s as a result of consumption is a comparatively passive motion—we merely sit and settle for what we’re given, even when we don’t essentially prefer it—while creation essentially calls for our whole lively participation and due to this fact selection.

As such, and since watching and studying as a author is such an intrinsic a part of the bigger storytelling course of, upping the ante on media literacy for writers turns into a deeply vital subject. To that finish, listed below are a number of ideas for nourishing your artistic thoughts, all of them straight from my very own practices in intentional media consumption.

1. Cease Consuming Content material That Doesn’t Spark Curiosity

So, sure, step one is to simply: cease watching and studying.

If there’s no spark, flip it off. Don’t eat mindlessly simply because it’s there. Simply say no.

Though I’ve at all times had the behavior of watching a hour or two of TV or films within the evenings, not too long ago I made a decision to take an indefinite break, for the easy cause that I used to be spending upward of two hours every single day watching stuff that, for probably the most half, I didn’t even like. A part of this response is because of my very own moods and tastes in the meanwhile, however a part of it’s the very actual scroll of doom on Netflix and different streaming providers.

By stepping away from ordinary viewing, not solely can I spare myself from more and more unintentional media decisions, I also can dedicate these two hours to extra productive pursuits—like studying a (good) guide or working by myself writing. If a film or present comes alongside that I’m really enthusiastic about (Stranger Issues 5, you!), I’ll watch it.

Till then, impress me. I’ll wait.

2. Make House for Silence

I’ve at all times felt (with no small quantity of satisfaction) that watching films and studying books was simply a part of my job. However amidst the ever-increasing cacophony that’s my (virtually) 40-year-old mind within the 12 months of 2025, the necessity to step again and listen to myself has grow to be maybe a fair extra vital a part of that job. As writers, we’re (and, I feel, needs to be) influenced by the media collective. However our tales in the end come from us, and the one technique to actually discover them is to ensure we are able to hear our personal inside whisperings louder than no matter junk-food TV is perhaps taking part in within the background.

3. Observe Reflective Watching and Studying

Whenever you do learn or watch, take the time to assume critically about what you eat.

For a author, this may occasionally start by critically analyzing approach.

As a Twenty first-century human, this calls for noticing the place we is perhaps copping to ordinary and ingrained responses (both for or in opposition to).

Maybe most vital, it ought to imply noticing the way you really feel.

Inquiries to ask about intentional studying and watching:

• How are the sentiments which might be arising (whether or not large or small, for or in opposition to, pleased or indignant) a mirror for you?
• What do you assume the creator wished you to expertise>
• How did your precise expertise line up with this?

These are at first  soulwork questions, however inevitably additionally questions on honing writing approach.

4. Problem Your self With Unfamiliar Tales

Studying with intention usually means going off the crushed observe. As an alternative of merely selecting the most recent present obtainable on streaming or the most recent bestseller in your favourite style, take your autonomy in your palms and make the dedication to be daring. Learn issues which might be edgy.

Edgy tales are people who push you as a result of:

• They require skillful comprehension,
• They ask you to step past what it’s triggering, confronting, or uncomfortable.
• They beckon from outdoors your present consolation zone or private pursuits.
• They signify one thing unusual, scary, or “different.”
• They scare you (just a bit bit).

5. Revisit Books and Movies That Moved You

Return to a few of your outdated favorites—people who spoke to your thoughts, coronary heart, and soul. Typically I’ve to return to the books and films that made me wish to be a author within the first place—simply to see if the outdated magic remains to be there. And it’s. And it at all times offers me hope, as a result of it means story remains to be there. It’s nonetheless alive—on the web page, on the display screen, and in me. Story is simply as vibrant and transferring and thrilling because it ever was, so long as we’re trying in the correct locations.

6. Create Intentional Studying Challenges

A superb studying (or watching ) problem is at all times a great way to combine issues up, to make positive your decisions are intentional, and to discover story terrain it’s possible you’ll in any other case have missed completely.

Three of my ongoing challenges are:

• Studying the classics (which I outline as any well-known guide written previous to 1980).
• Studying the Pulitzer winners for fiction.
• Watching all the flicks in my assortment in reverse order beginning within the Nineteen Thirties.

Listed here are just a few concepts for studying or watching challenges:

• An creator who challenges you.
• A style you’ve by no means learn.
• A guide you already know sits throughout out of your present ideological fence rail.
• A film from every decade.
• A overseas movie.
• One thing you used to like and one thing you used to hate—simply to see if something has modified.

The purpose is to detour from comfy ruts and to evoke curiosity for the unknown. You by no means know what you’ll discover—most likely your subsequent story concept!

7. Learn for True Enjoyable, Not Passive Distraction

Lastly, it’s value saying that intentional media consumption is not about forcing your self to grow to be a intellectual literary elitist (until you wish to be). Quite, I imagine the one best signal we’re on observe with our studying and watching is that we’re having enjoyable.

Not senseless semi-satisfaction.

However true heart-pounding, gut-clenching, laughing-out-loud, squealing-in-the-theater, delighted, ignited, enlivened enjoyable.

Sure, story is certainly leisure, however it’s by no means simply leisure. It’s engagement. True enjoyable isn’t senseless as a result of it exhibits us the core of our personal passions and truths.

So maybe the most effective rule of all for studying and watching with intention is to ask: “Am I having enjoyable?” And in the event you’re not: don’t.

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If tales are nourishment, then writers are the cooks who should style each ingredient earlier than serving it up. What we absorb turns into the flavour of what we provide the world. Selecting to learn extra deliberately is greater than a private follow—it’s a artistic duty. After we eat with care, curiosity, and braveness, we elevate our personal craft and affect the tales being informed round us. The world doesn’t want extra noise. It wants storytellers who’re listening first.

If writers don’t learn/watch with intention, who will?

In Abstract:

Intentional media consumption isn’t nearly watching “higher” exhibits or studying “smarter” books. It’s about aligning your media decisions together with your artistic function. Whenever you have interaction with tales that problem, encourage, and even unsettle you, you’re nurturing the very soil from which your individual tales develop.

Key Takeaways:

• You’re what you eat. Your media habits form your inside artistic panorama.
• Junk content material dulls artistic potential. Identical to meals, low-quality tales go away you hungry for that means.
• Reflective consumption enhances storytelling. Asking why one thing moved you (or didn’t) sharpens your writing instincts.
• Difficult content material helps you develop. Step past your consolation zone to find new views and storytelling methods.
• Enjoyable is a compass. True enjoyable—joyful, engaged, soul-stirring enjoyable—is the most effective indicator of intentional story alignment.

Need Extra?

When you’re feeling impressed to not simply eat tales extra deliberately however to jot down them extra deliberately too, try my most up-to-date guide Subsequent Degree Plot Construction. This one’s for writers who’re prepared to maneuver past simply hitting plot factors to actually exploring the deeper structure of story—together with plot construction’s mirror-like symmetry, the 4 symbolic “worlds” discovered inside each story, the pacing beneath the beats, and the highly effective emotional logic that makes a plot resonate. It builds on what I taught in Structuring Your Novel, however goes additional into the soul of construction itself. When you’ve ever sensed there’s one thing deeper happening in nice tales—even in the event you couldn’t fairly put your finger on it—this guide will assist you to faucet into that, form it, and use it with function. It’s obtainable in paperback, e-book, and audiobook.

Wordplayers, inform me your opinions! Do you assume writers have a duty to learn extra deliberately—and if that’s the case, what’s one story that modified the way in which you consider your individual writing? Inform me within the feedback!

Click on the “Play” button to Hearken to Audio Model (or subscribe to the Serving to Writers Change into Authors podcast in Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, or Spotify).

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