How to Read Like a Writer
If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.
As writers, we are constantly given the advice to read, read, read – and analyze what we read, but is there a trick to getting the most out of what we read? Is there a knack to reading as a writer? I don’t pretend to have all the answers (ever) but here are a few techniques that work for me.
Read it twice
It’s hard to analyze something and enjoy the story at the same time. When you read a book you love, consider reading it again (preferably straight away) to analyze the writing rather than enjoy the story. The first time I did this was with an Anne Tyler book. I read the last line and immediately turned back to the beginning. If I hadn’t done that I might never have noticed that the first line of the book was the exact same sentence as the last line: “I am a man you can trust.” I knew at that point that the second reading was going to be instructive to me as a writer.
Even if you don’t have time to re-read a book, try it with a short story, essay or article. You may be surprised.
Look for themes
In Reading Like A Writer, Francine Prose writes about how annoying it was when a high school teacher instructed her class to write a paper about the theme of blindness in King Lear and Oedipus Rex. They had to go through and mark every reference to anything connected with blindness (eyes, light, darkness, vision). As Prose puts it:
“Without this tedious time-consuming exercise, all of us know that blindness played a starring role in both dramas.”
It was only as they worked through the exercise that the students became aware that, long before blindness made its dramatic entrance as part of the plots, the authors were using carefully themed language. They were asking:
“… what it meant to be clear-sighted or obtuse, shortsighted or prescient, to heed the signs and warnings , to see or deny what was right in front of one’s eyes.”
In any piece of writing, it’s easy to miss the themes when you’re reading for story, but in any good piece of writing they are there, improving the story for the reader, somewhere deep in his subconscious.
Read close
Read every word. Every sentence. Every line of dialogue. In a good piece of writing, you will actually be able to speculate as to why a certain word was used. You can take a guess at the more common, clichéd word or sentence it might have started out as and why it maybe got changed in the re-write. (Yes , I’m a geek. Am I really the only one?)
This works with non-fiction, as well as fiction. Good journalists and essayists choose every word just as carefully as good novelists.
Get inside an author’s mind
Some make it very easy for you.
John Steinbeck’s Working Days is the journal that he wrote alongside The Grapes of Wrath.
He used it to set his daily writing goals and to talk himself about character development and plot movement. Reading the journal and the novel gives you a real idea of how the latter came together.
Terry Marshall is a modern day author helping readers (and potential writers) out in a similar way. His website has a Tips For Writers section, where he shares the process of writing a novel. Terry invites you to collaborate with him, and:
“use Soda Springs: Sex, Love, and Civil Rights as an on-line writer’s boot camp.”
He promises to
“… show you the warts and dirty little secrets that only a novel’s author knows .”
It’s a generous offer. I plan on taking him up on it.
Read with a note book
List interesting words and phrases. Note how the author uses a plot device or a character development technique. Not so you can copy him, but so you can start to understand how the writer’s mind works. So you can get a feel for writing techniques and beautiful language. So you notice that a passage that was easy to read was probably very hard to write.
Always read the blurb
A book’s blurb sums up the plot, minus any spoilers. It highlights why you should read this book, and what it’s really about. Writing a blurb for your own work in progress can be a fantastic way to focus on the important story elements and keep you on track with your writing. I’m not much of a plotter but I wrote a blurb for my latest work in progress before I started, and it’s functioning as its own little plot outline.
Do you have any reading tips for writers? Please share in the comments.
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I appreciate your advice here – the bit about writing your own blurb is particularly thought-provoking. Thanks! Now if I can just bear to immediately re-read a book…I certainly have tried to “read like a writer” while reading, but yes, that can take away from the fun…or at least the focus on the story. I think this is an exercise that I need to do, however…thanks again, for the good ideas!
Twitter: writeandchange
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Glad you found it useful Gretchen. As I said, if you really can’t re-read a book straight away, try it with a short story. Even with a short you’ll see techniques when you re-read that you just don’t see when you’re focussed on the story.
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Yes, that’s a good point. One thing I have noticed often while reading outloud to my children (not picture books as much as older kid’s books) is that I sometimes find myself changing words as I read…changing them to ones I think would have worked better! I don’t suppose that the authors would appreciate it, but hey, I won’t tell if you won’t.
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Hey Karen, thanks for the tips. I am not a regular writer but I always try read the books as if I have written them. I visualize the things from writer’s point of view as it helps me understand the topic in more detail and I enjoy reading books this way. Thanks.
Twitter: writeandchange
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Thanks for stopping by and commenting Lauren. It sounds to me like it comes very naturally to you to “read like a writer”. I’m sure if you do become a regular writer you’ll find that’s a huge advantage!
@Gretchen – maybe the authors wouldn’t mind! Often when you go to an author talk or read an interview an author will say they either self-edit (again) when they read their own work OR they don’t like to read it at all because they constantly see how they could improve it. I guess a book is never really ‘finished’, even after it’s published!
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I am not into reading maybe because i am really lazy and I am not used to it when I was young…Anyway, thanks for the post you have shared us…
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I never thought that reading has it’s style too.. BTW thanks for a very informative blog!
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You’re welcome, Lily
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I must admit, the only book I’ve read more than once is “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coehlo.. Although reading something more than once helps make the information stick, if it’s worth committing to memory. I definitely use the notepad technique when reading because of all the spring-off ideas that come to mind while reading.
The one thing I would add to the list is to read like an editor, as well as a writer. How would you rewrite something to make it sound better? How would you tweak it if you had too?
Great post to come across as I prep to get back into the reading habit
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Twitter: writeandchange
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Yes, Ahlem – great advice, read like an editor, but preferably not with a red pen. It’s too tempting to deface the book sometimes! Thanks for stopping by
Karen Banes´s last post ..Thirty Questions to Ask Yourself While Editing Your Book
I knew about second readings as being sometimes richer than even the first since we can pick up so much more on the next pass, but I never thought about reading a piece the second time immediately following the first. I’ll definitely try that. Thanks for what to look for too. The one I do naturally is noting down wonderful words or use of a phrase or an explanation. I have a million slips of paper by my bedside with these notes.
Twitter: writeandchange
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Me too Kathryn. If you have any tips on how to organize those million slips of paper, I’d like to hear them
Karen Banes´s last post ..Thirty Questions to Ask Yourself While Editing Your Book
Hi Karen,
I have this habit of reading a book I like many times for as long as I have it but not immediately re-reading it. I can do that with a short story, an article or an essay though. I find that I don’t usually get it the first time since I want to get to the end quickly so I go over it slowly once or twice again.
These are great tips to keep in mind. I hope to improve on my reading to become a better writer.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice day!
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Glad to hear and read this post and I really apppreciate what is your advice on how to How to Read Like a Writer. I certainly have tried to “read like a writer” too while reading, but yes, that can take away from the fun…or at least the focus on the story. I think this is an exercise that I need to do, however I have to thank you again, for the good ideas!
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Thanks! Now if I can just bear to immediately re-read a book…I certainly have tried to “read like a writer” while reading,I think this is an exercise that I need to do, however I have to thank you again, for the good ideas!
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