how to improve your writing by analysing the books you read

NiallMcF said:

would anyone care to elaborate on this? how do you analyse the books you read? what are you looking for? what methods do you use?

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I always slip into a hypnotic state when reading a good novel, and don't notice stylistic tricks. So I adopted the practice of copying passages from writers I like. I see things when copying that I'd miss if I were merely reading: word choice, sentence structure, tricks of description and characterization, etc.

I did this a lot in my early writing years. I do it now to punish my subconscious when I'm blocked.

Shadow_Ferret said:

I've never been able to do this. I always read as a reader.

probably explains why I've never improved as a writer.

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Treasure this ability. It's truly a gift. Until I learned to shut down the writer in me and just read a book for the sake of reading it, I was limited to just 3 authors who didn't annoy me beyond all reason. Sometimes it's better to not analyse a book, and simply appreciate the fact that you have one to read.

NiallMcF said:

on the "what books helped improve your writing?" thread, one piece of advice that keeps coming up is; analyse the books you like, read with your writer's hat on, figure out why you like what you like.

would anyone care to elaborate on this? how do you analyse the books you read? what are you looking for? what methods do you use?

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I used to copy passages verbatim from authors I admired. I see things that way that I don't see by mere reading.

I read for pleasure, and usually analyze after reading because that's a pleasure too, for me. Later, when I'm writing, if I get stuck on a certain kind of scene, I'll go hit my bookshelves and look for how my collected authors handled similar kinds of scenes. I tend not to copy any of them, but it's like seeking expert opinions.

ETA: And of course, reading a lot improves our language skills, which makes us better writers, too.

maestrowork said:

a) I don't analyze what I read when I FIRST read it... I read for enjoyment.

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Yep, I do, too. I think at first I'd ask myself these questions after I finished the book. If a book is really good I still don't think about analyzing anything until I've finished it. If a book isn't so good then I'll mentally note things as I read.

quicklime said:

...you can learn almost as much, and in some cases more, from really bad writing as you can from good--what exactly is so wrong in a bad piece?

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It's great for learning what I want to be sure and avoid in my own writing.

DeaK said:

I'm...seeking out great books to help me with specific problems... what does a good transition look like? What's a great way to set the stage for a new chapter in a new setting?

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this helps, too. I frequently question my pacing, so I go back and skim through books with excellent pacing.

Also, I critique stories on another web site for writers, and this has helped my writing tremendously. Yes, it's made me more critical, but I also pay a lot more attention to what I'm doing and why.

I would recommend that you take a novel you really like and write and outline of it. Work your way through chapter by chapter. Just list the events, giving page numbers. Reduce the entire thing to a just-the-facts "tell". Indicate scene change (that way you can get a word count for a given scene. If you number the scenes you'll know how many scenes make up that novel) Note how the author conveys information or increases tension. Note where they take a page and a half to describe and event that you've listed in one sentence. (numbering the pages makes this clear) Then do a one sentence summary of each chapter and a 1 paragraph summary of each act.

Something that frustrates me to no end is when someone advises to 'read good books by good authors'. As soon as I can get an understanding of what makes a book good or an author good, I'll be golden. In the meantime, I was reading what interested me. Maybe it was good, maybe it wasn't. As is so often the case, what one writer considers good, another doesn't so I knew I was pretty much on my own on figuring out what and who is considered 'good'. All I knew was what I liked or didn't like.

I'm gonna plug a website for Alexandra Sokoloff . Desperate to figure out how to do this elusive 'study how other writers do it' in a way that didn't leave me stumbling in the dark, growing more frustrated with every passing piece of advice of 'read good books/writers', I picked up this website on screenwriting tips for authors.

Once I understood the basic underlying structure to a story done in script form, a light bulb went off over my head and from there I've been able to read more critically, as well as for enjoyment. It's taken me leaps and bounds ahead of where I was.

Yes, I know books are not exactly like scripts. But once I gained the understanding of story structure, started recognizing the terminology and how it all fit together, reading on a more critical level started to fall into place for me.

You can make a plot outline of a book - see how many sections of plot there are, and how many pages or words each section of the plot is actually made up of. You can count what the percentage of dialogue to narration is. You can highlight things like character development, visual description, and plot advancement different colors to see their percentages and pattern of distribution.

bearilou said:

I'm gonna plug a website for Alexandra Sokoloff . Desperate to figure out how to do this elusive 'study how other writers do it' in a way that didn't leave me stumbling in the dark, growing more frustrated with every passing piece of advice of 'read good books/writers', I picked up this website on screenwriting tips for authors.

Once I understood the basic underlying structure to a story done in script form, a light bulb went off over my head and from there I've been able to read more critically, as well as for enjoyment. It's taken me leaps and bounds ahead of where I was.

Yes, I know books are not exactly like scripts. But once I gained the understanding of story structure, started recognizing the terminology and how it all fit together, reading on a more critical level started to fall into place for me.

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Funny thing - I like stories, not just books. So I watch a lot of movies. Subconsciously, the structure explained by Sokoloff was already present in my novel - the hooks, foreshadowing, symbolism, planting clues. I second your recommendation to read her website!