How many books must one read, to become a better writer? I hear

Exactly 1000.

>>8397500
I'm one of the few authors who have actually written more books than they read

>>8397500
there´s no specific number
read 1000 50 shades of grey tier books and you will you will be worse of than if you read Ulysses once

You become a better writer by writing, not reading.

how does one get better at writing, if not by reading?

One. Then you get better in the one after that and so on

>>8397539
write
write more
get someone who is already a good write to tell you that you are shit
write more
get a second person of the above mentioned type
write more
repeat these steps till you are not shit

>>8397500
anyone who tells you reading voraciously is not a part of obtaining the skills for deft and accomplished writing should not be listened to, OP. read, read, read. then write, write, write. as for how many books, that's neither here nor there. don't be fixated by a set number this way. just read a lot and write a lot. you'll show improvements the more you do both.

keep reading, keep writing

>>8397526
found the retard
>>8397507
10000000 words of mlp fanfiction doesn't count anon
>>8397539
by reading

>>8397500
It's not about just reading a book. If it was that, everyone who was bored on the train home would be an amazing author.

Its about who you read, what you gleam from their styles and abilities, and how much you can build upon your own style and ability based off of what you learned from them.

You are supposed to read all the time so you are positioned in a state of awareness towards writing.

There's a certain knowledge and understanding that comes as close to talent as can be, but isn't actually talent because even if you have wonderful plots or prose you can still write a lump of terribly written gold or a peice of shit that looks like gold.

>>8398411
It's a Garth Marenghi reference but whateva

>>8397506
This

>>8397559
OR expedite the process by learning what's good on the literary world through reading.