Are You Reading Like a Writer?

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.” -Stephen King¹

In the same way that every teacher was first a student, every writer was first a reader. Reading is the best way to learn what good writing sounds like (and what bad writing sounds like).

Great writing purrs like a sports car after a tuneup. And the more you read the work of talented authors, the more you’ll be able to recognize that hum and find the same frequency in your own work.

The key is to read like a writer, which is essentially meta-reading. As you read another person’s work, observe what literary techniques make you perk up, get scared, or stay up past your bedtime. How do they make you empathize with the characters? What physical attributes do they choose to highlight for each character and why? How do they paint vivid mental images? How do they express complex ideas in a simple way?

It’s a similar process to the “close reading” that you likely learned in English lit class. As you’re reading, ask yourself what’s working and not working in the text. Is the author using long sentences or short ones? How is that choice affecting the pacing of the piece? How do they transition from one point to the next?

Each of these insights gives you valuable information that you can use in your own writing. This is one of the reasons why if I’m ever feeling stuck or uninspired with my writing, I pick up a good book. Often, after I’ve been reading for a while, I feel the need to go back to my computer to write.

Stephen King says you can learn from bad writing as well: “Every book you pick up has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones.”¹

But don’t read bad writing as a salve for your ego. One of the basest human tendencies is to put others down to make yourself feel better. Like a schoolyard bully pushing someone down to stroke his own ego, it can be easy to criticize others’ work and use it to falsely inflate your sense of self-importance.

“When you’re a writer — especially when you’re starting out, but I think it’s a good rule for the life of your career — you need to be a diagnostician. When you see something and it doesn’t work, instead of just being snarky about it, and instead of just joking with your friends about how bad this thing was that you just saw, figure out why it’s bad…Your goal should be to diagnose it: why didn’t it work?” -Aaron Sorkin²

Rather than viewing poorly written stories from a prideful pedestal, use them for education. Learn from others’ mistakes.

Take note of when you put your bookmark into a book or click away from an online article: What made you leave that story? What happened right before you lost attention? How can you avoid that mistake in your own work?

David Baldacci explains that every author must develop a “writer’s prism”: you need to train yourself to see the world in a different way than everyone else.³

Whereas other readers may be content with enjoying the story, you should consider what mechanics the author used to heighten your experience of the story. Consider what challenges they must have faced in telling that story and how they overcame those challenges. Those are the types of lessons you can take with you into your own work.

Even though I write nonfiction, I’ve found that reading fiction teaches me a lot. Any story — fiction or nonfiction — can teach you how to tell a better story and keep your audience engaged. Margaret Atwood recommends reading books like The Bible, Grimms’ Fairy Tales, Greek mythology, and other stories that have earned a shelf space in the pantheon of literature and history.⁴

“If you are interested in writing and having a large toolkit of stories, [I suggest you read old classic stories] because those stories have been building blocks for a great many writers before you.” -Margaret Atwood⁴

She explains that plotlines from these ancient stories are woven into modern-day literature, and many writers creatively play off those motifs in their work. “In order to get the joke, you have to know the original,” says Atwood. And if you want to learn the art of storytelling, there’s no better place to start than with the stories that have survived for centuries.

Writers of fiction are masters of evoking emotion, whereas writers of nonfiction are adept at conveying information.

The best authors are able to do both: they wrap facts in compelling stories. Read fiction to learn how to tell better stories. Read nonfiction to learn how to accurately relay details. Don’t limit yourself to your tiny little slice of the writing world (poetry, self-help, fantasy, mystery, etc.). You can learn from any writer in any field.

But while you can (and should) learn from every type of book you read, it’s important to spend significant time absorbing the best work in your field.

“In the end, you write what you read…What I have never witnessed is a writer’s work succeeding notably in a field he doesn’t habitually read for pleasure.” -Sol Stein⁵

Who do you admire in your field? To take it a step further, who makes you jealous because they’re so damn good? Read those authors.

I know it’s tempting to avoid their work. I get it; my ego sometimes makes me cringe when I read the writing of authors who are lightyears ahead of me. But rather than avoiding the work of people who make you jealous, sit humbly at their feet. Learn from them. Then go out and do what they do, in your own way.

This is one of the reasons I read the work of authors like Malcolm Gladwell, Ryan Holiday, and Brené Brown. They’re incredible writers and thinkers, and their books always teach me how to become a better creator.

Reading is fuel for writing. It provides inspiration as well as instruction. But to leverage the full power of your reading, you must learn how to read like a writer.

References:

¹ Stephen King: On Writing
² MasterClass: “Aaron Sorkin Teaches Screenwriting”
³ MasterClass: “David Baldacci Teaches Mystery and Thriller Writing”
⁴ MasterClass: “Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing”
⁵ Sol Stein: Stein on Writing