Reading Like A Writer

It is done. The tree is put away in the attic. All the boxes, filled with ornaments and lights, are neatly stacked up there, too. Bags and wrapping paper will be stowed away tomorrow. I didn't want to wear my husband out in one night!

It's after midnight and I'm still wide awake from all this flurry of physical activity.

So, I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to write because tomorrow I may be too involved in reading my new book to even care about blogging.

I want to write a book one day. Not the great American novel, but a novel. So I've been trying to read books from the angle of a writer, and then today I came across an e-mail from Writersdigest.com. There were some suggestions that I can use, and you can too if this is something you are interested in.

Click on this article title for a direct link: Read Like a Writer.

Here are some excerpts:

PLOTS To learn how an author masters plot, keep a stack of notecards beside you as you read a novel by one of your favorite storytellers. Make a card for every plot point the writer introduces.

If the book is a detective story, police procedural or legal thriller, you may find not only a major plot but numerous subplots running throughout the book. Use the notecards to document shifts in plot as well as subplots throughout the story. Don't forget to include page numbers from the book on each card so you can go back and study exactly how elements are woven into the fabric of the story line. ...

TRANSITIONS  Don't forget to study transition sentences the author uses to connect elements of plot together. How does the author shift from one scene to another? The mark of a skilled writer is how seamlessly the total story is pieced together from plots and subplots into a unified story line.

A talented writer will use smooth transition sentences that you may miss on the first look. While reading, you suddenly realize that the writer has introduced a new subplot or has shifted in time or place.

How did the author do that? Go back and locate the transition sentence. Study it. Once you see how experienced authors use transitions to shift plot, setting or time, you'll have a new tool with which to craft your own work.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT  While reading, study character in a similar manner. How does the writer reveal the character's personality, appearance, relationships and thought process? Notecards or highlighters can work here as well.

Underscore every passage that allows you as a reader to visualize a particular character; jot down sentences that reveal a character's personality on notecards. What you're likely to see is that the writer has numerous techniques for putting flesh on a character's bones. These might include the following:  ....

When you're doing a careful read, it's best to study a novel for only one aspect of craft at a time. Attempting to track plot elements and character development at the same time, for example, may overload the reading process. ...

A good writer is an observant reader. Abandon any notions that reading is a luxury—the writer reads in order to write. (my emphasis)

http://www.writersdigest.com/articles/parker_reading.asp

It's what we are always telling our 4th and 5th grade students... you have to read in order to write. Get a sense for storytelling, a sense for hooking the reader, for using words that move the story along smoothly and without interruptions that disturb the flow of reading. I know how to write like we teach fifth graders to write.

I want to write like someone others want to read. I'm going to start reading like a writer.