Tips for Reading like a Writer
1. Choose a story to re-read . Pick a story , novel, or work of narrative nonfiction that you absolutely love. Choose one that will serve as a model for what you’d like to achieve in your own work. Knowing where the narrative goes will work to your advantage, because this awareness of the finish line allows you to focus on how the author gets from here to there. 2. Annotate . As you read, underline or highlight and fill the margins with questions, comments, and observations about…what exactly? Anything related to the author’s choices . To read like a writer, we must look at stories the way an architect looks at a building. We should examine the underlying scaffolding that makes up the nuts and bolts of the narrative. After all, that’s what we spend all our time doing when we write: making decisions. 3. Think BIG by examining the story’s overall structure. Select the plot structure that makes the most sense to you and apply it to the story. If you’re attracted to the tried