We’ve all known people that seem to have a natural talent for writing. Their work is well-structured, presents beautiful imagery and captures the imagination, without being overly-complicated. Why is their writing so much more sophisticated, so much more eloquently expressed than ours?

This is simply answered, and is almost universally correct: they have read those precious few literary works that have been labelled as the ‘classics’.

What defines a ‘classic’? This is a piece of literature which has been recognised as a masterpiece, often the most well-known book by the author. It epitomizes the author’s literary style and technique and has been praised by professional critic and casual reader alike.

Whilst of course, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, Mary Shelley and Edgar Alan Poe were all most certainly passionate and talented authors, it is important to remember that more recent works, such as Atonement by Ian McEwan and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon are equally worth a read.

But why read such pieces of literary work? Surely work written over a century ago is a poor source of inspiration? Wrong. A talented writer then is an equally good choice for inspirational reading as a talented writer now, with the only difference being that the older work was written using the language of its time. Unfortunately, this puts far too many would-be-writers off, as few seem to have the patience to learn to understand the language and style of older fiction. Sadly, the only advice I can offer is patience, as the rewards are far greater than the time you will commit to reading fiction that, at the moment, you consider ‘out of your depth’.

Remember; your depth is only as great as how far you are prepared to push yourself. There are no ‘born’ writers, no scientific evidence for people who are gifted with language. They are simply the fortunate among us who have been exposed to the ‘literary greats’, and have always been avid readers.

Often however, people claim that it is nonsensical to draw inspiration from authors who were masters of fiction, instead aspiring to ‘be as good as J K Rowling’, or indeed ‘be as good as [insert bestselling author of favourite genre]‘. Whilst by no means am I criticising J K Rowling’s work, which has a dedicated fanbase of adoring fans, it is vital to remember that fantasy fiction stretches further than “Harry Potter”, science-fiction stretches further than “Star Wars” and horror stretches far beyond “Saw”. There are an infinite number of talented writers from all genres and eras, waiting for you to draw on their work for inspiration. I assure you, if you aim high; you’ll hit high.

Whilst I cannot guarantee that all who read this shall become the next Charles Dickens or H P Lovecraft, I can guarantee that anyone who draws on classic literature for inspiration (and is prepared to put in the effort to improve their language and literary style accordingly) will be far more successful in their writing career than those who do not.

I leave you with a link to a webpage which will sate your (hopefully) growing desire to read classic literature. This website can be found here.

I wish you the best of luck with your literary journey.