Reading to Write

I'm in between writing projects right now, but as I brainstorm details for my next one and let revision ideas for the last one percolate, I've been noticing something. Ever since I read the Song of Ice and Fire series last fall*, I've become more aware of my character's motivations. Everyone, from the protagonist and antagonist on down to Boy #5 who appears for 3 paragraphs in scene 20, should have a motivation. It might not always be visible on the page (and don't give us Boy #5's life story or anything), but you, the author, should always know what's driving your character.

"Duh," you're saying. This is something we've all heard before. But reading Song of Ice and Fire really drove home for me how much of a difference believable character motivation makes. No matter how crazy things get in Martin's novels (and believe me, shit gets effed up), I'm always willing to go along for the ride, because I believe in the characters. Their actions make sense to me. Even the darkest, twisted, most evil villains have desires, dreams, goals... and things standing in their way. That's what makes these books such an addictive read.

So this got me thinking about other books I've read, that in reading, have taught me about an aspect of writing. I guess you could call this my own personal writing course formula. They are the books that taught me the building blocks of writing. And since I love lists, I made one for these:**

Character Motivation - Song of Ice and Fire series
World-Building - Harry Potter series
Pacing - The Hunger Games
Symbolism/Underlying Theme Introduction - The Scarlet Letter
Satire - Northanger Abbey
Humor - Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Character Building - In Cold Blood
Political Machinations - Dune
Prose - The Passion (Jeanette Winterson)

This is not to say that I haven't read a million other books that do all of these things well. It's just that for me, personally, something clicked in my brain when I read all of these. Suddenly mysterious, inaccessible concepts like writing lyrical prose or making the reader's heart pound, became not so inaccessible. I started to see how these writers were doing making me laugh out loud, or gasp in shock.

All of these books have made me a better writer. All of them have changed me in some way.

So what about you? What were your "ah-ha" books?

* and by read, I mean "inhaled," cause I sped through all 5 books in about 1.5 months. that's 112.7555 pages per day, according to my super-advanced calculations...

** now just imagine me reading these all in an Academy Award announcer voice... ;)