Hajra Naz
If you want to feel good about yourself as a writer and develop more ideas, you should learn to read like a writer.
Most people who read to become “better” writers try to avoid writing. They pretend they’re being productive when they’re just putting off writing.
But that doesn’t mean we should stop reading. Stephen King gave writers two pieces of advice:
- Read a lot.
- Write a lot.
The problem is most writers focus too much on the first part. They think reading alone is enough to become a better writer. They read without thinking. They don’t think about how the story was put together or how they could do something similar.
When we tell writers to study what they read, they often don’t want to.
Why is that?
Many writers think they can’t enjoy reading and learning simultaneously.
This is not about repeating your old literature classes.
If you like a piece of writing, stop and think why. This simple question changes your focus from “studying” to “understanding.” As a writer, I enjoy looking inside and thinking about how and why the writing works.
When you do this, you become a better writer:
- It helps you learn new words.
- It’s an easy way to get ideas.
- It shows you different writing methods that you can copy and learn from.
- It helps you see good, bad, and ugly in writing.
So, how can you become a great reader as a writer?
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It only takes 7 small and easy steps:
Step 1: Graze and then read the page
You might not know it, but look at it when reading a page.
This helps your brain know what to expect before you start reading. Before you read the first sentence on a book page, a blog on a website, or a newsletter on your favorite app, look at how the text looks on the page (or screen).
Here are some things to look for:
- Does the writer use smaller titles to break up the page?
- Do the smaller titles help the reader understand what’s coming?
- Does the writer use long or short paragraphs? Or both?
- How is talking used? Is it short or long?
Writing is more than just selecting the right words.
It’s an image as well. Authors need to know what appears “good.”
Step 2: Annotate What You Read
An excellent way to learn from writing:
Write on it.
We do this when we like something we read.
Here’s how to do this:
- Use a pen or highlighter.
- Underline the parts you like.
- Write notes on the side.
- Circle parts you don’t understand.
You can do this after reading or while reading.
Now, let’s do the next part.
Step 3: Question the writer’s intent
Some people say that writing just comes out naturally. But this isn’t true. Every piece of writing is the result of many choices. Writers make lots of small and big choices when they write. It’s our job to understand these choices so we can write better ourselves.
When reading, consider the following questions to pose to yourself:
- “What is the writer not saying?”
- “Why did the writer put this part here?”
- “Why did the writer say it like that?”
- “Why did the writer choose this way of telling the story?”
We also need to think about how the writer tells the story. This is called the “Rate of Revelation.”
Step 4: Observe the Rate of Revelation
How fast do new things happen in the story? Some writers take a long time to explain one idea. Others tell you many things in a short space. You want to tell new things quickly to keep people interested.
Pay attention when you read:
- Don’t skip boring parts. They might be necessary.
- Read all of the text, not just the titles.
- Don’t look at the end of chapters (it spoils the surprise!).
If you do these things, you’ll understand how fast new things happen in the story. You’ll also learn how to do this in your writing.
Step 6: How did the author make you “see” or “feel” something?
The best writing makes you feel something. It’s part of what we want to do to the reader.
When you read something, see how it makes you feel. Think about the good and bad feelings, and when you don’t feel anything.
Here are some examples:
- Kafka uses magic to surprise you.
- Nabokov uses funny jokes to talk about hard things.
- Hemingway writes boring conversations so they seem more real. (Most conversations are boring.)
Closely linked to how a writer makes you feel is what the writer makes you remember.
Step 7: Note which concepts you can recall the most.
There are two big things we learned from reading many books over the years:
- The best ways to describe things stay in your mind. They don’t require to be stored somewhere.
- It’s better to read a book you like again than force yourself to read one you don’t like.
Think about all the books you’ve ever read.
Which ones made you think a lot or feel something? Go back and reread them. Finding new books might always be fun, but reading books you liked will help you see things you missed. If you see it differently, you can ask why (and be amazed at how good the writing is!).
Our last step might be an excellent way to read a book you liked again.
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Bonus Step: Flip the format
This is something we don’t hear talked about much in writing groups (and it might seem a bit strange):
Listen to an audiobook.
We’ve found that it’s an excellent way to hear what works in writing. After all, the best writing doesn’t “sound” like writing. Seeing things from a different angle and having a new experience will help you better understand a piece of work
That’s it! Use these 8 steps to become a better reader and make your writing 10 times better.
