How to read and analyze text when viewing it from a writer's perspective.
Read like a writer
Reading like a writer or RLW, is a way to thoroughly analyze a text that you are reading to determine if there are techniques used that you might also want to use in your own work. RLW means to fully dissect what a writer’s choices and ideas were when they wrote their piece and to try to understand the reasons the writer used the technique they did when writing. It is a very analytical way of reading, and you are learning through evaluating someone else’s technique in order to establish how the author wrote to make you feel a certain way, or how they established specific connections or reasoning throughout their writings.
When you are reading like a writer you are setting aside reading for pleasure which involves more of a lighthearted approach of just reading a story or text for information and feeling emotions or being educated by the pieces.
Not leisure reading
Leisure reading is done in a non-examination type way, and you simply take the piece for what it is, a research item, a romance novel, a newspaper article, and so on. You don’t try to understand why the writer opened with a certain dialogue or why they explained a situation the way they did, but you simply read and intake the information.
Analyze the mechanics, not the why
In a literature classroom, we might identify a mix of both feelings from the author and the feeling we felt for evaluating writings and using that connection for our own writing. We don’t really look specifically at the tools of each piece assigned and then analytically use the techniques to write. We are taught to look for specific words or phrases that might help us understand the piece so we can establish the author’s purpose in writing. It’s more like trying to explain what it is in the piece that made us feel a certain way but not explaining why the author did that.
If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write. —Stephen King
What a reader should ask and look for in the text when reading
“In what genre is this written?”
“Do you know who the intended audience is for this piece of writing?
“Is this the kind of writing you will be writing yourself?”
“How effective is the language the author uses? Is it too formal? Too informal? Perfectly appropriate?”
“Are there places in the writing that you find confusing? What about the writing in those places makes it unclear or confusing?”
“How does the author move from one idea to another in the writing? Are the transitions between the ideas effective? How else might he/she have transitioned between ideas instead?”
“What is the technique the author is using here? Is this technique effective?”
“What would be the advantages and disadvantages if I tried this same technique in my writing?”
Everyone has a different style of writing but there is a basic box structure to a story.
Ultimately, I myself look at the way the writer establishes their point and then I try to determine if the way they landed there worked or not and if it is a technique I could try as well. Everyone has a different style of writing but there is a basic box structure to a story. Mixing things around and using specific language is an interesting way to land at the same objective and be creative while doing it.
Happy Writing! -H.F.
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