What Your Favorite Book Can Teach You About Writing

By Janice Hardy

Your favorite book ismore than a great read—it’s a masterclass in writing craft.

I have a beat-up copy of Dave Duncan’s The Gilded Chain on my shelf that’s filled with notes in themargins and highlighted passages in different colors. It was my writingtextbook when I was figuring out how to write and analyzing what made the booksI loved work.

I loved Duncan’s prose. (Still do.) It’s smooth, clear,never draws attention to itself, but always pulls me right into the story. Istudied how he structured sentences, how he handled action, how he manageddialogue without slowing the pace. I wasn’t trying to mimic him—I was trying tounderstand why his writing kept meturning pages long past midnight.

Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com