How to Read like a Writer

As a starting out writer, an aspiring writer, I was constantly told to read. It wasn’t a hard thing for me, and it isn’t to this day. I’ve always been a reader, as are most people who are or want to be writers. The hard part, for most writers’ comes with the other half of well-meant, often repeated advice. Read like a writer. What exactly does that mean? Let’s explore.

Before you can read like a writer, you need to start thinking of yourself as a writer. It’s a bit more complicated than that. You can’t just say that you’re a writer now, so anytime you are reading, you are reading like a writer. Some tips to mastering this kind of reading are listed below:

Tips for reading like a writer

When reading like a writer, you will want to focus on an element in the text that you want to figure out or learn how to write well. Maybe you’ve been struggling with structure. You can go to a book that does it well. Then read with that thing in mind. How did they structure their story? What made the structure special in that book? You can take tips on how to structure yours from reading with focus. For example: The Way of Kings begins with a fight scene, and then jumps in time. Every other book in that series has looked at the same night through a different character’s eyes.

Common things to focus on while reading are:

• Plot
• Point of View
• Narration
• Atmosphere
• Tone
• Setting
• Characterization
• Sentence Structure
• Chronography

What is important is that, while reading, you read closely. Reading closely means paying attention to sentence length, word choice, paragraph length. It’s important to take notes. You are not just reading the words and letting them play inside your head, you are not just enjoying the movie that your imagination is lighting up for you. You are dissecting the work, you are learning its secrets.

Another tip is to write out sentences you love. Those amazing pieces of prose from the authors you can’t get enough of, go ahead and copy them down as if you are in grade school again. This will help you to understand their word choices, their sentence structures, and it will give you a better understanding of why the work is so good.

In summary, you will want to pick an element of the text to focus on, then you will want to read closely and take notes so that you can pick apart the text. If there is a particular passage that you love, go ahead and copy it down. Once you have mastered the art of reading like a writer, you will find that your own writing will improve.

Thank you for reading! Are there any other tips for reading like a writer that I’ve forgotten?