How to Read Like a Writer
It is a truth universally acknowledged that all writers are readers, but not all readers are great writers. We know that the same processes that happen in reading happen in writing as well. And yet, even if you love reading, you may find it difficult to write.
Last week we talked about why great writers are also great readers. Today we’re exploring the how: how to leverage your reading life to help you become a better writer!
You’ll see that the secret to reading like a writer generally involves choosing the right material, interacting with the text, and reflecting on what you read to put yourself in the writer’s shoes and form new associations.
Choose the Right Material
"Read, read, read. Read everything - trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.” - William Faulkner
Read mentor texts.
The most fundamental element of reading like a writer is choosing what to read. If you already have an idea of what genres or writing style you want to utilize, then find examples from authors who did it successfully. Think of the books that inspired you to write in the first place. Ask others for recommendations of books that have done what you are trying to do, and why it was so effective for them. Look at lists of books on Goodreads in that genre or that include some of your favorite books, and read other books from that list. There are so many places to find inspiration!
“The mentor text motivates, inspires, and gives students the courage to write well.” - Ruth Culham, “Reading With a Writer’s Eye”
Read diverse authors.
Choose books in your genre or that showcase various writing elements you want to use from a wide variety of authors. Look for authors of different ethnicities, languages, and cultures. Find authors from different parts of the country and whose perspective will be quite different from yours.
In an interview with Michelle Obama, Amanda Gorman talked about how we are experiencing a renaissance in Black art across music, television, theater, and, of course, books. Diverse experiences from diverse authors are being celebrated and promoted more than ever, making it so much easier for us as writers to learn from a wide variety of mentors and benefit from their wisdom and creativity. There are tons of lists on Goodreads and organizations like We Need Diverse Books dedicated to promoting the voices of authors of color, if you need a place to start!
Read outside your genre.
After just telling you how important it is to choose mentor texts from within your genre, I’m now telling you to read outside your genre, too. I stand by it! You can pick up stylistic choices and innovative uses of literary devices from just about anywhere. Reading broadly leads to greater creativity in your own writing - just don’t neglect learning the foundational elements of the genre you want to write.
Interact With the Text
Ask questions.
“The simplest and most powerful thing that happens when we ask ourselves questions is that it forces us to think.” - Warren Berger
Warren Berger’s book A More Beautiful Question has forever taught me the value of becoming a better questioner! As writers, questions start us on the road to understanding our craft - and, by getting curious, we jumpstart our own creativity and imagination.
Here are some questions to think about with every book you read:
- What expectations does the book give the reader, and does it fulfill those expectations?
- Why did the author choose to tell this story in this way?
- What sources is the author using?
- What is unique about this author’s writing style?
- What is catching my attention, and why?
- What don’t I like about this book, and why?
- Would I have done something differently if I were writing this book?
- What are the most important ideas this author is conveying?
- What about X? What isn’t the author saying here that he/she probably should?
- What does this book make me wonder?
Write in the margins.
“Reading like a writer is collaborative learning, even though it might appear that the reader is alone. But reading like a writer means reading with the author, as if one were writing the text oneself.” - Frank Smith
See all the white space around the text in your book? Those are called margins, and they’re meant for you to write things in the text: your reactions, the questions posed above, connections to other things you’ve read, etc. I know many people feel awkward about writing in margins, but it can be a beautiful, reflective practice on its own!
Writing in the margins is a way for you to dialogue with the author. Call him out on his bullshit. Ask for proof when she makes an outrageous claim. Gush over a line of poetry embedded in a sentence. Exclaim in wonder when your mind is blown. Interact with the text without judgment. Don’t pause to think about whether what you’re saying is brilliant. No one’s watching, and the author doesn’t care. Often my marginalia is simply “Whoa,” “Wow,” “Beautiful,” etc.
The point is that you’re starting to notice your reactions to what you’re reading - which will help you think about how other people might react to what you write.
In his 1940 book, How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler has additional reasons for writing in books:
“Full ownership of a book only comes when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it — which comes to the same thing — is by writing in it.
Why is marking a book indispensable to reading it? First, it keeps you awake — not merely conscious, but wide awake. Second, reading, if it is active, is thinking, and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written. The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks. Third, writing your reactions down helps you to remember the thoughts of the author.
Reading a book should be a conversation between you and the author. Presumably he knows more about the subject than you do; if not, you probably should not be bothering with his book. But understanding is a two-way operation; the learner has to question himself and question the teacher, once he understands what the teacher is saying. Marking a book is literally an expression of your differences or your agreements with the author. It is the highest respect you can pay him.” - Mortimer Adler
Organize, select, and connect. (Spivey, 1990)
In my last post, I shared the research of Nancy Nelson Spivey, which found that both readers and writers engage in a process of organizing, selecting, and connecting. You can begin consciously paying attention to how you use that process in your reading as a way to prepare for writing.
First, reflect on the organization of what you are reading. Often different genres follow patterns that signal to us what type of content we are reading. “Skilled readers are able to infer organization without explicit marking.” Ask yourself, would I have told this story or presented this information in a different order? Creative writing to a large extent involves creating new, unique structures that incorporate what the writer has read.
Selection will probably occur almost naturally, and your job is to pay attention to it. As you read, you are integrating the new information with the prior knowledge you brought with you to the book. What stands out to you? What information is most important - to the author, and to you? I recommend highlighting, underlining, starring, or all of the above to keep note of what you’re selecting.
Connect what you’re taking in to what you already know. What inferences are you being asked to make? How are you able to make them? How did the author of this text trust you, as the reader, to construct meaning beyond what they wrote down? You can write down these connections in the margins.
This process of putting yourself in the author’s shoes is metacognitive work. As my friend and fellow editor, Tori Bachman, said: “[Writing] forces you to think about your thinking (about what you've read), which will help you refine your work to stand apart from others. Adding to the conversation instead of repeating what's been stated.”
Reflect on What You Read
Keep a commonplace book.
Once you’ve done your highlighting and reacted to great quotes in a book, what do you do wit them? How do you find them again easily? Many writers have devised systems for keeping track of their favorite quotes and big ideas from books. If you have a note on your phone, or a Pinterest board, or an Instagram collection of favorite quotes, then you’re already keeping a very basic form of a commonplace book. Evernote is another popular digital system for keeping quotes and ideas organized.
But my favorite method is the traditional notecard method. I learned this system from Ryan Holiday, and you can watch a great video tutorial from Amy Landino on how to put together your commonplace book. Here’s how it works for me:
- I highlight and underline great quotes in a book.
- Either at that time or after I finish the book, I go back and transfer all of my favorite quotes to 3x5 notecards.
- On the back of the notecard, I choose one or two words that capture the theme of that quote. For example, if I were writing down Frank Smith’s quote above (or any of the quotes above), I would write on the back, “Reading/Writing.”
- I have a large photo case with individual boxes inside (bought from Amazon). I label each of those individual boxes by large overarching themes based on my interests and what I like to read about, such as “Yoga,” “Philosophy,” “God/Christianity,” “Writing,” “Love,” “Learning,” etc.
- I file the notecard in the appropriate box, and now I know where to find it again easily!
Ryan Holiday uses this method for researching the books he writes - so for each book, he has a separate case, and the individual boxes/sections of his case cover the various themes he knows he wants to cover in his book. That’s a very sophisticated use of the commonplace book, and you might not get there right away - but that is a system especially useful for nonfiction writers whose books include a lot of research and references.
I’ve been keeping my commonplace book for about two years now, and I’ve been slowly refining my process as I go. I’ve had to re-label some of my categories when I realize that category isn’t working for me. Be patient, stay with it, and you’ll figure out the right organization system for you. Or keep things in Evernote like most people I know. :)
The point is: have a place where you can easily find and organize the information you want to hold onto.
Write about what you read.
Writing a book review blog, journaling privately about the book, posting your reflections on a book on Instagram, or even simply writing a review on Goodreads, are all great ways to process what you’ve read and reinforce your primary thoughts and emotions. It’s likely that you’ll remember that book based on how you wrote about experiencing it. This process helps the writer receive feedback and promotion, but it’s even better for you to anchor in what you’ve learned.
And, like I’ve said above, writing about what you’ve read will kickstart your creativity so that you can create a masterpiece of your own!
If you can do these things while reading, then you are doing the work of a writer.
