In a world flooded with stories—books, shows, films, and endless social content—it’s easy to fall into passive consumption. But as writers and creatives, what we take in matters just as much as what we put out. To write with depth, clarity, and resonance, we must first learn to read more intentionally and watch with greater awareness. Intentional consumption isn’t about being rigid or “highbrow.” Rather, it’s about choosing stories that challenge us, feed us, and reflect the kind of storytelling we want, in turn, to create.
Earlier this month, I offered a post about “Why Intentional Storytelling Matters in an Era of AI and Algorithm-Driven Content.” It was an exploration of all the reasons intentional storytelling has always mattered and perhaps matters more than ever in our modern era of ultra-speed and convenient shortcuts. The first comment on that post (amongst many in a wonderfully rich discussion) was from Heather J. Bennett who wrote:
It’s also a problem with lazy readers who aren’t taking the time to slow down and read the story as it’s written. … Their attention spans for reading for the nuance of the storytelling is shorter with understandable life priorities and needing to get things done.
This immediately spoke to something I was already thinking about, which is that intentional consumption—reading and watching—is just as important, if not more so, than intentional creation. However, this isn’t to separate writers from consumers or suggest “others” should bear the blame for “bad” stories being all too acceptable to the market. After all, we as writers are first and foremost members of that same audience. To the degree we seek to create intentional art—art that that is “on purpose” and for a reason—then this is a reminder that our reading/watching choices not only inform the general market, but also the quality of what we’re inputting into our own experiences and how that that affects the output in our writing.
In This Article:
- How Does What You Read and Watch Shape Your Writing?
- How Reading and Watching Low-Quality Content Affects Your Writing
- Do Stories With Agendas Harm Good Storytelling?
- What Does It Mean to Read More Intentionally as a Writer? (7 Tips)
How Does What You Read and Watch Shape Your Writing?
Which is more important: writing intentionally or reading intentionally?
It’s kind of a chicken-and-egg question, but ultimately I believe intentional media consumption is more important. Why? Because the personalized landscape of our individual media consumption is the fertile ground out of which grows everything we might hope to create. Someone who chooses media with the utmost intention is unlikely to then create without intention. Even if they did, I have to believe the careful attention to input would still favorably impact the output.
In short, we are what we read (and watch).
No doubt, you’re familiar with the suggestion that you are the average of the five people you’re around the most. Your media consumption impacts you just as greatly. It’s worth examining five of the shows you watch most often and five of the series you most like to read (or perhaps for simplicity’s sake, the type of shows and books you most enjoy) and considering how they have “made” you—for better or worse.
You can also think of it like this: your writing is unlikely to rise above the average quality or thematic messaging of what you read and watch. More crucially, consuming low-quality media risks the dulling of yourself. And if nothing else, even if the effect is neutral, you must contend with the fact that in not asking more of your media, and therefore of yourself, you are missing potential opportunities to raise yourself.
How Reading and Watching Low-Quality Content Affects Your Writing
Intentional media consumption affects everyone, but as writers, our interaction with media has the potential to create a greater ripple effect. Not only do our media choices affect us personally (which, of course, necessarily affects our writing), they also directly shape our own works of fiction.
The single greatest rule of thumb when it comes to questioning whether you’re reading and watching critically is to consider whether or not you are reading or watching with your soul.
Fundamentally, what I mean by this is that engagement should bring a certain spark of aliveness. What you read or watch should make you feel alive.
Media is nourishment for our minds and souls. Just as with the physical nourishment of food, we have to consider whether we’re getting enough quality nutrients. Are we consuming junk content or “real” content? Just as with junk food, it’s true enough we all tend toward a soft spot for junk entertainment.
What is junk entertainment?
- Empty calories that are satisfying-but-not-satisfying.
- Adds nothing of real value.
- Possibly leaches valuable nutrients (i.e., time, happiness, contentment, positivity).
- Strangely but inarguably addictive.
This isn’t to say the occasional cheat day isn’t a worthy part of our lives, but a steady diet of anything that isn’t actively adding value is, at best, a waste and, at worst, actively harmful to both ourselves, our potential readers, and inevitably the collective.
Do Stories With Agendas Harm Good Storytelling?
We tend to blame much of our current dissatisfaction with modern media on the fact that storytelling has become ever more polarizing and political. It is not uncommon for the release of even the most popcorn-y of all entertainment—the summer blockbuster—to be bulldozed by political rants of all persuasions. It can be difficult to engage with modern media without guarding against intrusive messaging (and that may even be before we know what the messaging may be).
Many people cry out that stories should not be vehicles for political and social agendas and should get back to being “just for fun” or “just entertainment.” (But maybe you already know what I think about the “just” word in front of stories…)
I do not believe this is the problem. Stories have always been political. By their very nature as an inherently transformational experience, they can’t be anything else. (Never mind that the simple act of reporting on the human condition is also inherently—and often dangerously—political.)
Neither is the problem that “real” stories and “important” stories shouldn’t be fun. Indeed, I can’t help but think that the most wildly entertaining genre stories are those with the most potential for impacting humanity—not only through their sheer accessibility but also through their natural tendency toward the simple depth of the archetypal experience.
No, in my opinion, what we are ultimately reacting against—and, out of sheer exhaustion, increasingly putting up with—are specific trends that have taken us away from the true heart—the true soul—of what story really is.
Problematic storytelling devices we should be conscious of when consuming (and should not excuse) include:
- Plot-driven stories that neglect character arcs (i.e., characters made to serve plots rather than plots made to serve characters).
- Entertainment-first storytelling vs. artistic integrity (i.e., seeking stories that will supposedly sell vs. writing stories of originality and personal intensity).
- Flat stereotypes vs. rich archetypes (i.e., writing tropes and plot formulae vs. meeting, understanding, and mining the deeper archetypal wisdom of story transformation).
- Storytelling instead of story channelling (i.e., creating stories primarily or entirely from our left brain’s logic vs. listening to what wants to come through the right brain).
What Does It Mean to Read More Intentionally as a Writer? (7 Tips)
In many ways, I think reading and watching critically is actually more difficult than mindful storytelling. Partly, this is because we often feel we have less control over what media is placed before us to consume versus what we can consciously choose to create. Mostly, however, it is because consumption is a relatively passive action—we simply sit and accept what we are given, even if we don’t necessarily like it—whilst creation necessarily demands our entire active participation and therefore choice.
As such, and because watching and reading as a writer is such an intrinsic part of the larger storytelling process, upping the ante on media literacy for writers becomes a deeply important topic. To that end, here are several suggestions for nourishing your creative mind, all of them straight from my own practices in intentional media consumption.
1. Stop Consuming Content That Doesn’t Spark Curiosity
So, yes, the first step is to just: stop watching and reading.
If there’s no spark, turn it off. Don’t consume mindlessly just because it’s there. Just say no.
Although I have always had the habit of watching a hour or two of TV or movies in the evenings, recently I decided to take an indefinite break, for the simple reason that I was spending upward of two hours every day watching stuff that, for the most part, I didn’t even like. Part of this reaction is due to my own moods and tastes at the moment, but part of it is the very real scroll of doom on Netflix and other streaming services.
By stepping away from habitual viewing, not only can I spare myself from increasingly unintentional media choices, I can also devote those two hours to more productive pursuits—like reading a (good) book or working on my own writing. If a movie or show comes along that I’m actually excited about (Stranger Things 5, looking at you!), I’ll watch it.
Until then, impress me. I’ll wait.
2. Make Space for Silence
I have always felt (with no small amount of satisfaction) that watching movies and reading books was just part of my job. But amidst the ever-increasing cacophony that is my (almost) 40-year-old brain in the year of 2025, the need to step back and hear myself has become perhaps an even more important part of that job. As writers, we are (and, I think, should be) influenced by the media collective. But our stories ultimately come from us, and the only way to truly find them is to make sure we can hear our own inner whisperings louder than whatever junk-food TV might be playing in the background.
3. Practice Reflective Watching and Reading
When you do read or watch, take the time to think critically about what you consume.
For a writer, this may begin by critically analyzing technique.
As a 21st-century human, this demands noticing where we might be copping to habitual and ingrained responses (either for or against).
Perhaps most important, it should mean noticing how you feel.
Questions to ask about intentional reading and watching:
- How are the feelings that are coming up (whether big or small, for or against, happy or angry) a mirror for you?
- What do you think the author wanted you to experience>
- How did your actual experience line up with this?
These are first and foremost soulwork questions, but inevitably also questions about honing writing technique.
4. Challenge Yourself With Unfamiliar Stories
Reading with intention often means going off the beaten track. Instead of simply choosing the latest show available on streaming or the newest bestseller in your favorite genre, take your autonomy in your hands and make the commitment to be bold. Read things that are edgy.
Edgy stories are those that push you because:
- They require skillful comprehension,
- They ask you to step beyond what it is triggering, confronting, or uncomfortable.
- They beckon from outside your current comfort zone or personal interests.
- They represent something strange, frightening, or “other.”
- They scare you (just a little bit).
5. Revisit Books and Films That Moved You
Return to some of your old favorites—those that spoke to your mind, heart, and soul. Sometimes I have to go back to the books and movies that made me want to be a writer in the first place—just to see if the old magic is still there. And it is. And it always gives me hope, because it means story is still there. It’s still alive—on the page, on the screen, and in me. Story is just as vibrant and moving and exciting as it ever was, as long as we’re looking in the right places.
6. Create Intentional Reading Challenges
A good reading (or watching ) challenge is always a good way to mix things up, to make sure your choices are intentional, and to explore story terrain you may otherwise have missed entirely.
Three of my ongoing challenges are:
- Reading the classics (which I define as any famous book written prior to 1980).
- Reading the Pulitzer winners for fiction.
- Watching all the movies in my collection in reverse order starting in the 1930s.
Here are a few ideas for reading or watching challenges:
- An author who challenges you.
- A genre you’ve never read.
- A book you know sits across from your current ideological fence rail.
- A movie from each decade.
- A foreign film.
- Something you used to love and something you used to hate—just to see if anything has changed.
The point is to detour from comfortable ruts and to rouse curiosity for the unknown. You never know what you’ll find—probably your next story idea!
7. Read for True Fun, Not Passive Distraction
Finally, it’s worth saying that intentional media consumption is not about forcing yourself to become a highbrow literary elitist (unless you want to be). Rather, I believe the single greatest sign we’re on track with our reading and watching is that we are having fun.
Not mindless semi-satisfaction.
But true heart-pounding, gut-clenching, laughing-out-loud, squealing-in-the-theater, delighted, ignited, enlivened fun.
Yes, story is indeed entertainment, but it is never just entertainment. It is engagement. True fun is never mindless because it shows us the core of our own passions and truths.
So perhaps the best rule of all for reading and watching with intention is to ask: “Am I having fun?” And if you’re not: don’t.
***
If stories are nourishment, then writers are the cooks who must taste every ingredient before serving it up. What we take in becomes the flavor of what we offer the world. Choosing to read more intentionally is more than a personal practice—it’s a creative responsibility. When we consume with care, curiosity, and courage, we elevate our own craft and influence the stories being told around us. The world doesn’t need more noise. It needs storytellers who are listening first.
If writers don’t read/watch with intention, who will?
In Summary:
Intentional media consumption isn’t just about watching “better” shows or reading “smarter” books. It’s about aligning your media choices with your creative purpose. When you engage with stories that challenge, inspire, or even unsettle you, you’re nurturing the very soil from which your own stories grow.
Key Takeaways:
- You are what you consume. Your media habits shape your inner creative landscape.
- Junk content dulls creative potential. Just like food, low-quality stories leave you hungry for meaning.
- Reflective consumption enhances storytelling. Asking why something moved you (or didn’t) sharpens your writing instincts.
- Challenging content helps you grow. Step beyond your comfort zone to discover new perspectives and storytelling techniques.
- Fun is a compass. True fun—joyful, engaged, soul-stirring fun—is the best indicator of intentional story alignment.
Want More?
Next Level Plot Structure (Amazon affiliate link)
If you’re feeling inspired to not just consume stories more intentionally but to write them more intentionally too, check out my most recent book Next Level Plot Structure. This one’s for writers who are ready to move beyond just hitting plot points to really exploring the deeper architecture of story—including plot structure’s mirror-like symmetry, the four symbolic “worlds” found within every story, the pacing beneath the beats, and the powerful emotional logic that makes a plot resonate. It builds on what I taught in Structuring Your Novel, but goes further into the soul of structure itself. If you’ve ever sensed there’s something deeper going on in great stories—even if you couldn’t quite put your finger on it—this book will help you tap into that, shape it, and use it with purpose. It’s available in paperback, e-book, and audiobook.
Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! Do you think writers have a responsibility to read more intentionally—and if so, what’s one story that changed the way you think about your own writing? Tell me in the comments!
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About K.M. Weiland | @KMWeiland
Great advice, thanks, Katie 🙂
This is something I’m learning to be more (ironically?) strict with:
“… ask: “Am I having fun?” And if you’re not: don’t.”
Great advice, thanks, Katie 🙂
This is something I’m learning to be more (ironically?) strict with:
“… ask: “Am I having fun?” And if you’re not: don’t.”
Haha. I know exactly what you mean. Work has always been “easier” for me than fun. I’m getting better at it though. 😉
Amen!
Thanks for stopping by, Larry!
Quick tip for other authors: If you are looking for inspirations from beyond your genre, take a second look at Light Novels, Manga, and Anime, if you shook your head after the first look … as I did, many years ago.
As with novels, not each book or episode is a gem, but you can find fascinating characters and plot points. Just give yourself the chance to ease you into these trope-rich media types … and look beyond the tropes.
I found myself scribbling in my notebook after the initial shock caused by the unfamiliar media conventions. Now I am an occasional reader / watcher and get ideas presented to me which I would have missed when staying in the literary and genre fields of novels.
The experiment was well worth it.
Great tip! This is something I want to get into more myself. Any suggestions?
Thank you for this!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Katie, I think that listening to your podcast today, was FUN!
Thank you for another informative and inspiring podcast and post.
Hah, then I guess it was an intentional choice! 😉
Thank you. This post reminds me I need to get back to my old habit of writing up a review of the TV shows I watch as well as the books I read. When a tv series really grabbed me, I used to keep a journal that analyze the character development and plot lines through the years. Keeping track of the questions I hope to see answered, and noting which are addressed and which are not. I need to get back to that practice (something I really do enjoy). And if I’m not inspired to do so, I should probably stop watching and pick up a book instead. Thanks for the reminder to interact with all stories with my brain fully engaged!
I’ve always been really good at keeping a log of what I read. For a long time, I’ve intended to do the same for what I watch, but haven’t been as consistent. I used Letterbox for a while.
Thank you! I loved this post! I recently reread – or actually listened to – an old favorite of mine from high school – The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. Although I remembered the basic story, I loved re-meeting these colorful characters and found myself laughing out loud several times at the dialogue / comments of one of the narrators. Too often lately I’ve found myself reading books I think “I ought to read” but not enjoying them. Some become a task instead of inspiration. I really need to take your advice to heart! Thank you!
There’s something special about the old classics. Whenever I’m feeling uninspired by what’s coming across my reading desk, I go back to something written in the long-ago past. For me, there’s always a comfortable feeling about returning there. The old books always have a reliableness to them.
Thinking back to reading your novel “Storming,” I remember what a relief it was to pick up a book that was enjoyable and just plain fun. At the end of the day, that is often what I’m looking for, something fun. The book I’m reading now is comforting, and occasionally I have found myself appreciating books so much that do have conflict, but they are still, in the telling, very comforting. The novel I’m writing now has a serious, important theme that I’m hoping readers will pick up on, but there is much of it that I hope will be satisfying to women to read because, well, because we are women. I think that with everything that is going in the world now, we need to have that place where we can sit down with a book, relax, and be assured that it’s going to be okay.
Aww, thank you so much for that! That is always what I want to give readers: a story that is an adventurously fun romp but that has a deeper soul. I think the word you use to describe your own book–“satisfying”–is key. Entertainment and “fun” is less about “lightness” or obviously rompy elements and more about the spark or charge that readers experience in reading something that keeps pulling them back in chapter after chapter.
I don’t watch a lot of television and have never streamed programmed content on any device. The two books I’ve finished most recently are Faulkner’s “Light in August” and Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” (the latter was MUCH better than the former despite both being candidates for top American fiction of the 20th century); I am currently several chapters into Bradbury’s “Dandelion Wine.” My chosen genre is YA realism, so I’m exhausting the public library searching for the best middle grade/YA novels for other reading and have read several of those that show up repeatedly on “best of” lists. Suggestions always graciously and gratefully received.
I agree. Light in August is probably one of my favorite of Faulkner’s works, but To Kill a Mockingbird is just electric from start to finish. It’s one of those books that does what I mentioned above in response to Colleen–entertains marvelously while speaking to something so deep it’s timeless.
Thank you, again. Your articles are so important to me. The book that really hit me is Octavia Butler’s Lilith’s Brood.
Haven’t read that one yet. I’ll have to check it out! So glad you enjoyed today’s piece. 🙂
Per my email earlier, this piece you’ve written Katie, is One of Your Best! So Spot on!!
Great Tips!!
For the longest I’ve had the feeling that what I read is/must invariably influence what I’m trying to write.
I read writers like Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ron Chernow, HW ‘Bill’ Brands, Stephen Ambrose and Samuel Guynne because their books not only ‘teach me’ things I don’t know, but they move me emotionally. I feel as though I’m actually’there’..on the battlefield.. in the White House.
I read historical fiction writers like Kate Quinn, Kristin Hannah, Amanda Skenandore, David Glann and David Lindsey for many of the same reasons. I learn, and sooo want to learn how to write with the same impact. When I approach the end of these books and a lump comes to my throat or moisture to my eyes, I know I’ve been moved.
Reading all these books…as well as yours, Stephen Kings and Donald Mauss’ on Writing, have all helped me to become more the ‘writer I want to become’.
As a reader or watcher, that lump in my throat or moisture in my eyes (or sometimes just giddiness in my chest) is what I’m looking for. When I find that, I know I’ve found gold!
I’ll never forget the first time I watched the BBC series Taboo–as each episode ended, I was so enlivened by what had happened throughout those 50 minutes, and I was excited to find out what was coming next, but I also wanted to pull out a notebook and pen and unload what was swirling in my chest.
I’ve never had that kind of reaction to a show since or, really, before, and I’ve not been able to recapture that feeling with further rewatches of the series. But the writing I produced after each episode was definitely sharpened by what I had just watched.
I still need to watch that. Love me some Tom Hardy. 😉
I’m already doing these suggestions, but I want to toss in some more ideas.
1) Reading journals. Keeping them is outside of my comfort zone, but I’ve been watching YouTubers who keep bujos, and some of them make artsy-looking reading journals. Others have gorgeous pre-made journals — I covet “Wisteria” by the Quirky Cup Collective, for instance. At first I scoffed at the idea of a reading journal, but when I considered how much good stories have contributed to my growth as a writer, I decided keeping one for reading, and the RPG video games I play might fit into a new habit I plan on doing more intentionally — commonplacing.
2) Commonplacing is a centuries-old practice — going back to Marcus Aurelius — of keeping notebooks on topics that interest you. As a teenager I used to do a variant of this that I’ve recently learned is called a “zibaldone,” where you record any facts / ideas that catch your fancy, e.g., recipes, poems, quotes, etc. I would keep them in my journal.
But commonplacing is meant for specific topics, for example, a notebook where you record everything about “medieval Britain,” or “AI art,” or “cave diving,” etc. They’re your own personal reference book. I’m going to start keeping a commonplace book for writing topics: worldbuilding, dialogue, character arcs, creativity, etc. Do I think a scene is a great example of XYZ? Commonplace it! Did this article I read about ABC spark an idea for worldbuilding or plot? Commonplace it! Do I think a story is an excellent example of a type of theme or narrative technique? Record observations in the commonplace book.
Part of what sold me on commonplacing is that the proponents talked about how it saved them from mindless doomscrolling and wasting their precious off-hours from work. It helped them to live life more … intentionally. For me the practice *also* sounds like a great way to “close the open tabs in my brain” and quiet my restless mind so I can sleep more!
This is great! I do make it a habit to re-read old journals daily. I’ll re-read the entry from a year ago, and I also work through a journal from a few years back. It’s so orienting and grounding–and I remember so many good ideas I would otherwise have forgotten!
Oh great idea, Jamie! I’ve been doing this with 3×5 cards on topics I am currently using for my stories, or want to use someday maybe. But I remember when I used to do things in notebooks and they sure are easier to handle than a gazillion cards in multiple card files! Thank you!
Reading this, I am reminded of an email I sent to Matt Buchman recently; I binge-read his military romance stories for two years before creating my first novel, while I was learning how to do fiction (after years of publishing non-fiction, different skill set). People have asked me – why are my sci fi/future characters mostly members of a military service? I only did two space battles in 11 books so far, as I focus on characters, not shoot-em-up. I would sometimes say that the exploration/military gave me scope for the types of plots I liked. My loved ones got the real truth which was ‘I dunno.’ Until one day, I realized that for the two years prior to outputting, what was I inputting? Military! It does lend itself to the plots I love because the future world focuses on exploration and exploration/military ships overlap function a lot, but the real reason is the same reason as ‘why do so many sci fi novels have felinoid aliens?’ Meow! I thanked Matt for the inspiration of the content.
[My very first fiction was two murder mystery (police procedural) short stories in this same universe, and they were OK but the last story/novella had the same protagonist cop in an action-adventure, and that really worked, so I knew what to pursue. I am a lifelong mystery lover and I feed myself a steady diet but it just didn’t click for me as a writer. Buchman’s military romance is very similar to mysteries in that the Good Guys always win, eventually!]
I do think there’s truth to the idea that “we are what we read” (or watch). And why not? We tend to read/watch what most interests us, so why not write about it too? Plus it’s free research!
Well said. Sturgeon’s Law was coined to describe the state of literature in the 50s. Nothing has changed. There’s still an endless stream of crud being churned out to catch the latest trend but, as always, there are gems buried in the muck. We should take the time and make the effort to find the good instead of passively accepting whatever “content” the gods of the algorithm place in our troughs.
As far as a book that influenced my writing, I’m going to choose “All the Crooked Saints,” by Maggie Stiefvater. I remember stopping halfway through the book and saying to my wife, “This prose is beautiful,” and making her listen as I read a page aloud. The dialogue sounded like people talking. The discriptions weren’t cluttered with extraneous detail. I wanted to learn how to write that well.
It’s always inspiring to read books like that–ones that lift us into a vision of ourselves as better writers.
Oh my gosh, so deeply timely for me! I recently shipped off to my agent my second novel (BARDO HOUSE: A LOVE STORY) that was a totally unabashed mashup of/love letter to all the “weird” tales I read and watched growing up years ago … the wonderful old black and white Frankenstein and Dracula and The Mummy movies, Andersen’s fairy tales (SO dark), Zenna Henderson, Tolkien, Poe, Shelley, Stoker, so many more – and – most explicitly – Ray Bradbury, and “Something Wicked This Way Comes.” My agent wanted to know what were my influences as I was writing the book – hoping, I’m sure, to glean a list of possible comps. Nope! BARDO HOUSE is the delicious soup that all those delicious weird and magical ingredients have been simmering all the decades of my life. Thank you so much for shedding a bright light on this. And I will forever love the distinction between “story telling” and “story channeling.” Yes a thousand times.
That sounds so fun!
You said you have movies from 1930 on in your collection. I have to ask, are they physical media?
A few. Some are even VHS! But most are in a digital library.
Hello K.M. I am writing my first novel, and as I research different aspects of copyright I realize I may have made a mistake. I am mostly typing down my story on my computer and saving it on a flash drive for added backup, but occasionally I have written down certain scenes on paper when I was away from my computer. These pages were messy, scrawled, and misspelled, so I burned them when I was finished with them. Now I have learned that they may help prove independent creation if I am ever accused of copyright infringement. Do I need to be worried about the pages I destroyed, and should I keep the others that I still have and will probably create in the future? None of these pages are dated, and jump back and forth randomly among different scenes as I dream them up. Thank you so much for helping me.
Congrats on starting your first novel! I’m not a copyright expert, but from what I understand, your work is protected the moment it’s written down, whether on paper or digitally, so tossing messy drafts likely doesn’t hurt your rights. That said, keeping early notes or scenes can probably help prove independent creation if needed (although, honestly, I wouldn’t worry about that too much). Dating your drafts or saving versions periodically can also help create a clear trail of your authorship.
This was a great deal of help. Thank you so much.
Glad to be of help!