6 Steps to Help You Read Like a Writer

What have you learned about writing from the novels and stories that you read? Whether you love them or hate them, there’s a lot you can learn just from reading books! Today, the folks at Reese’s Book Club have shared some tips to help you read like a writer:

While there are a hundred different books offering specific writing advice from writers, critics, and educators, there is one universal truth accepted by all: to become a great writer, you have to be a great reader. This doesn’t mean reading acclaimed literature or finishing the Man Booker List each year. Instead, it means reading with a critical eye and learning from every book you pick up.

Every book has something to teach you, whether you liked it or not. Below are six areas where we teach you how to read your TBR like a writer.

1. Study the POV

Point of View, or POV, is a crucial part of every story, changing the way the reader connects with the story. First POV tends to bring the reader in by sitting them in the heads of the main characters while third POV offers a more holistic scope of the story.

Questions to Ask: How do different POVs build tension and drive drama? Which characters and I’m sympathizing with most and why? How does the story use POV to tell us more about the world of the novel?

Required Reading: The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

2. Pacing/Structure

Chances are you’ve stumbled across a book that’s struggled to hold your attention. Examining these moments and what’s going on can help you solve for it in your own work.

Questions to Ask: When are you growing tired of the story? Is it a page count issue? A scene length issue? On a scene level, what is missing that could add drama or push the story forward? On a story level, is the plot too straightforward? How might deeper character work or plot twists create a more engaging story?

Required Reading: The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott

3. Stakes

Stakes are the reason we care about a story, why we’re affected so much when one character doesn’t get the love interest or when another character dies a tragic death. Notice which characters you become most invested in and why.

Questions to Ask: How do the world stakes and personal stakes interact? Are they in conflict with one another? Are they aligned? Which of these two options creates more engagement for you as a reader?

Required Reading: The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

4. Character Arcs

As readers, we want to see characters develop and grow. Studying how this is done in a novel can help you structure character development in your own work.

Questions to Ask: How do the obstacles the characters’ face force them to pivot? What about the plot forces them to reassess their beliefs? How do other characters impact the protagonists’ behavior? How do the protagonists’ mistakes, assumptions, and ideals create new problems in the text?

Required Reading: The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

5. Secondary Characters

Don’t neglect your side characters. Think about what types of characters can bring conflict, tension, comfort, and hope to your character’s world.

Questions to ask: Who is challenging the main character’s beliefs in this world? Who is the antagonist? What does their dialogue cadence look like? How do their personalities bounce off of each other? What is their life outside of the protagonist’s story?

Required Reading: Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

6. Main Character Development

We all love a morally gray character, but they are usually constructed in such a way that we as readers still fall in love with them. Character development is how you get your reader on the side of your character.

Questions to Ask: What makes you care about the characters? Especially the ones you’re not supposed to like? How does their backstory play into the situation? Does that make them more sympathetic? Less?

Required Reading: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Each month, Reese Witherspoon, the founder of Reese’s Book Club, chooses a book with a woman at the center of the story. There’s no formula to the books chosen to be in the spotlight, and RBC likes it that way. They make their choices thoughtfully and look for ways to deepen readers’ connection to books, authors and ourselves. LitUp by Reese’s Book Club is an underrepresented, un-agented women’s writer fellowship helping to diversify our bookshelves.  To keep up with all news from Reese’s Book Club, sign up for their newsletter.