How to Read Like a Writer: 10 Lessons to Elevate Your Reading and Writing Practice

by Erin M. Pushman

Overview

“Reliably insightful.” – Publishers Weekly

The first step to becoming a successful writer is to become a successful reader. Helping you develop your critical skills How to Read Like a Writer is an accessible and effective step-by-step guide to how careful reading can help you improve your craft as a creative writer, whatever genre you are writing in.

Across 10 lessons – each pairing published readings with practical critical and creative exercises – this book helps writers master such key elements of their craft as:

· Genre – from fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry to hybrid genres such as graphic narratives and online forms
· Plot, conflict, theme and image
· Developing characters – physical descriptions, psychological depths and actions
· Narrators and points of view – 1st, 2nd and 3rd person narratives
· Scenes and settings – time, space and place
· Structure and form – length, organization and media
· Language, subtext and style

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350119406
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/10/2022
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.55(h) x 0.45(d)

About the Author

Erin M. Pushman is Associate Professor of English and Director of the Writing Center at Limestone College, USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Writers Read
Lesson 1: Genre
i. Fiction ii. Creative Nonfiction iii. Poetry
Lesson 2: Hybrids and Multigenre Work
i. Graphic Narrative ii. Photo Essay iii. Prose Poems and Other Hybrids iv. Emerging Hybrids and Other Multigenre Work
Lesson 3: Form
i. One Size Does Not Fit All ii. Long, Short and Shorter iii. In Print, Online and Social Medias
Lesson 4: Plot, Conflict and Theme/Image
i. What Drives a Story, Poem or Essay?
ii. Central Theme/Image iii. Plot and Narrative Arc iv. Conflict
Lesson 5: Structure
i. Overall Structure ii. Nontraditional Structures iii. Whitespace and Other Structural Markers
Lesson 6: Character Development
i. Discovering Depth and Nuance ii. When the Narrator is Also a Character
Lesson 7: Point of View
i. Narrator, Speaker ii. First, Second, and Third iii. Omniscience and Limits iv. Distance and Closeness v. When the Narrator is also the Writer (Nonfiction)
Lesson 8: Setting
i. Place, Space, and Time ii. Introducing Setting iii. Physical Details
Lesson 9: Reading to Discover Scene
i. When Writers Use Scene ii. Short, Long, and In-Between iii. Recognizing Well-Rendered Scenes
Lesson 10: Language
i. Developing a Literary Ear ii. Resonance iii. Sensory Language iv. Style v. Voice and Tone
The End
i. Making Connections ii. Each Aspect of Writing Influences the Others iii. Continuing Down Your Path as a Reading Writer
Index

Editorial Reviews

01/10/2022

“Writers read words the way mechanics study engines,” suggests Pushman, director of the writing center at Limestone College, in her helpful debut. Reading and writing are similar crafts, according to Pushman, and “reading like a writer” means paying attention to how a piece of writing, whether a micro-essay on social media or a novel, was constructed. To that end, she offers advice in chapters organized by genre, including hybrid works (which “offer a new trip over otherwise-familiar terrain”) and online dispatches (which require “an additional layer of reading skills”). She then touches on plot (watching for conflict helps), structure (go back after finishing to really look at it), and character development (“sketch out the physical details you’ve read about a character”). Smart writing prompts round out each section, and Pushman has a handful of example texts she refers to throughout—she draws upon passages from Zadie Smith’s “The Embassy of Cambodia” several times, for instance, to explore the ways Smith builds detail. The approach is methodical, and Pushman’s “how they did it” explanations are reliably insightful. Those looking to get the most out of their reading experience and get the pen moving should give this a look. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Reliably insightful. Those looking to get the most out of their reading experience and get the pen moving should give this a look.” —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher