Empower Your Writing: Harness the Power of Reading to Improve Your Craft
I love that the writing community is full of supportive writers offering a variety of writing tips to others online. From guidance for aspiring authors, to nuanced insights for published writers, there’s nearly endless knowledge available to help you craft your story from a simple idea to a complete manuscript.
Though it may be at risk of becoming a cliche, the advice to ‘read in order to write’ still stands to offer some insight. You don’t have to be a complete bookworm to improve your writing. Even if you’re only reading a handful of books in a year, selecting your books with intention and analyzing their content through a writer's lens can significantly enhance your writing approach. Before you go out and add ten new books to your to-be-read pile, let’s first sit down and take a few notes.
First, consider:
What genre are you writing in and what are some current best sellers in this genre?
What sets these books apart from others in your genre, what are they most celebrated for?
In your writing, have you or your beta readers noticed any specific areas needing improvement?
Let’s get started.
Collect a few books in your genre. There’s no hard rule on how many, but to start, I suggest three books in your genre, one that’s gotten some pretty bad reviews, and two that are best sellers. I don’t suggest reading any of these reviews before you read the books yourself. Instead, use the ratings to choose your books and keep a notepad or Word document handy as you begin your research.
Take lots of notes!
Within your notes keep a list of the areas of improvement you want to work on and leave room for taking down quotes and examples of how these authors approach those same things. Do they describe things in a significant way? How does their tone sound throughout the book and how does it compare to your own tone? How are they approaching and communicating the theme of their story? Write down bits that stand out to you as amazing or terrible.
Compare notes with others.
If you have friends who read, ask them what is significant about these sections of writing. Once you have finished a story feel free to go back and read those reviews.
What stood out to other readers? The point is not to copy a writer's voice or their plot, but rather to understand the strengths and weaknesses of other writers and use that to improve your own writing. No matter the subject or skill, we are all continuously learning in life. While we may all be at different points in our writing journey, we can use advice and experience from those who have gone ahead of us to propel our own writing forward.
