When you read like a writer, you pay close attention to the techniques an author uses in a narrative and the effects they have on the reader.
Since you’re a reader yourself, you’ll have to observe your own emotions as you read. This takes practice. Which is why you’ll often hear experienced writers encourage you to read, read, read. How else are you going to observe the way certain techniques spark emotion in the reader?
In fact, we writers have to cultivate two sides to our personalities: we’re Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the same time. Imagine Mr. Hyde, all emotions, reading the story first, and then the doctor dissecting it with clinical detachment. Finally, we synthesize the information by bringing the two together in dialogue.
Dr. Jekyll: How did this make you feel?
Mr. Hyde: Sad. I felt so invested in the character that the bad news she experienced hit me hard.
Dr. Jekyll: Interesting. Let’s take a look at what made you so invested in the character in this passage. Could it be the closeness to the viewpoint character? Or maybe the dialogue?
What writers know is that, ultimately, we learn to write by practice, hard work, by repeated trial and error, success and failure, and from the books we admire.
– Francine Prose, Reading Like a Writer
What to ask when you read like a writer
The practice of reading like a writer – bringing your own Jekyll and Hyde into conversation – will become more and more automatic as you become more used to it. But when you’re starting out, I recommend taking notes, jotting down the key facts about the story.
If you’re studying a short story or novella, can you print it out and mark it up (or save the paper and mark up a PDF on your laptop or tablet). Keep the marked-up manuscript for future reference – you may want to return to it later for inspiration.
Let’s take a look at some questions you can ask about the story. You can also download the full list of questions in PDF format for easy reference – just click the button below.
The overall view of the story
Every story – whether a short story or an epic trilogy – can be summarized in terms of plot, characters, and setting. If you don’t know where to begin, begin here.
- What happens in the story? Describe the plot in 2-3 sentences.
- Who are the characters? How many are there?
- What’s the setting – the time and place of the story? How often does the setting change? You’ll also want to note if this is a fantastical setting or a real, historical or contemporary one.
- What’s the overall structure of the plot – e.g. what events would you identify as the inciting incident, the midpoint, and the climax?
- Roughly how long are the scenes or chapters and how much dialogue vs. description do you see on the page (i.e. how much blank space do you see vs. dense text)? This may tell you something about pacing.
Don’t worry about crafting an exhaustive overview. If you’re reviewing an 800-page novel with a cast of dozens, keep your summary as simple as if it were a 180-page novel. This is a broad-strokes summary.
Read like mad. But try to do it analytically – which can be hard, because the better and more compelling a novel is, the less conscious you will be of its devices. It’s worth trying to figure those devices out, however: they might come in useful in your own work.
– Sarah Waters, Ten Rules for Writing Fiction (in The Guardian)
Now, let’s give some thought to the overall impact of the story.
- After finishing the story, close your eyes and picture the story. What image appears in your mind? Why do you think this is the strongest image the story left in your mind?
Go ahead and do it now. If you haven’t just finished a story, then consider the last memorable story you read. Close your eyes. What do you think of when you think of the events of the story?
Also, how did it make you feel? Usually, the more powerful an emotional reaction, the more memorable the story will be (as long as the emotion was intended, of course – feeling profound boredom during an action/adventure story is no good).
- What emotional peaks can you identify during the story? Mark where you feel the most and note what you feel. How do you feel at the end? Look back at the emotional peaks – what does their placement tell you about the structure of the story?
We also want to consider the kind of story this is and whether it meets reader expectations.
- What is the genre of this work and how does the story fulfill or defy genre expectations?
The beginning
Now, let’s dive into the story in more detail, starting with the beginning:
- What is the story’s hook? What grabbed you on page 1?
- Where does the story begin in the lives of the characters? Why not earlier? Why not later? What’s special about this moment?
- What’s the inciting incident – the event that disrupts the main character’s ordinary life – and when does it occur in the story?
Hold the reader’s attention. (This is likely to work better if you can hold your own.)
– Margaret Atwood, 10 Ideas for Writers
The inciting incident will set up a question for the reader, and it’s always worthwhile looking at how reader questions are handled throughout the story – are they answered or complicated or left unresolved? If you’re having trouble nailing down what the question is, take a look at the problem the main character faces, since that’s usually tied up with the overall story question.
- What are the questions you have at the beginning of the story – questions that motivate you to read on? Do you still have those questions in the middle of the story? If they’ve changed, did you get answers or did the questions transform? And what questions or answers do you have at the very end of the story?
- What is the main character’s biggest problem early in the story? How does the story express the problem? And what happens to the problem by the end of the story?
Characters and viewpoint
And that leads us logically to considering the central characters in the story:
- Why is the main character the focus of the story – why not one of the other characters?
- What motivates the main character (and the other characters)? How does this motivation move the story forward?
- How do the central characters change from the early scenes to the end of the book?
The way the characters are presented – and how you see their world through their eyes – has a big impact on the entire reading experience. So let’s look at the point of view.
- What’s the point of view? How many viewpoint characters are there? Why do you think the story gives us access to this character or these characters, and not others?
- How does point of view limit what you know as a reader?
The point of view is closely tied to the narrative voice and the mood set by the narrator’s descriptions.
- How does the narrative style set a certain mood and which words or phrases can you identify that contribute to the mood?
Setting: time and place
The settings the characters move around, and how they’re described, contribute to the overall mood and trajectory of the story, too.
- What makes the setting stand out? Do these features make it appealing or unappealing to the reader?
- How does the setting reflect or support the conflict among the characters?
Setting isn’t just about physical space or geography, it’s also about time. So let’s ask ourselves questions about how the story handles time.
- How much of a time span do “see” in the story and how much is implied or referred to that happens before (or even after) the events on the page?
- How does the story handle its on-page events? Are they told chronologically or out of sequence? Why do you think the story events are told in this order? How could the story be told in a different order?
The ending
How and where the action ends can tell you a lot about the entire story, especially if you look back at the beginning.
- Why does the story end when and where it does? Could you imagine it ending in a different way?
- How do the ending pair or contrast with the opening to frame the story? Does the pairing or contrast suggest something about the change that’s happened or the theme of the story?
Finally, there’s a crucial question you’ll want to ask yourself as you wrap up.
The last question you should ask yourself
Look back at everything you’ve investigated so far and then pick out the techniques you discovered in the story that you’d like to experiment with yourself.
Ask yourself:
- What writing techniques stood out – and which would you like to try out in a story of your own?
This is the big payoff question. By asking all the preceding questions, you should be able to pick out at least one narrative technique that looks interesting.
Even if you don’t like the story.
I’ve learned great techniques from stories I disliked as a reader – simply by asking, “How can I use this technique in my kind of story?”
