Critical reading exercise

[luthierwnc]

Hello all, I'm putting a second draft to bed for a month or two to come at it fresh. In the meantime I plan to read a few well-regarded novels and bone-up on my grammar. I've always read as a pure consumer. While still wanting to enjoy the books on the list, are there critical reading techniques I should include that go past something to do on the flight? Thanks, sh

 

[pmmg]

Honestly, I wish I could read as a pure reader again. I always read as an editor, and see all the nuts and bolts. It makes me even harder to please. If you can be just a reader, I would stay there.

 

[Devor]

You can look for plot points. The Call to Action, in particular, since it's the moment that really defines the novel, and is the moment you describe in, say, the blurb ("will he be able to overcome..."). When you read it, just reflect on what it made work, what it made it fresh, or if it wasn't, how you would've done it better. Maybe scribble down a note, if that helps you.

I don't think it's helpful to nitpick sentences. But if there's a point in the writing that makes you go "Whoa!" and really hits you in the feels, make a note, and read it again later with a more careful eye. As a reader you want to think "Oh no, my character died!" or whatever, but as a writer you want to pay attention to the way it was delivered that managed to create all that emotion.

Mostly you just want to immerse yourself in the language and the different ideas that authors are putting out there.

 

[luthierwnc]

Thanks for looking. My hiatus on the is open-ended depending on progress on the thriller. Cheers, sh

 

[Prince of Spires]

I tend to still very much read as a reader, even with 4 published novels. My brain can only do one thing at a time... Having said that, even I read differently. I tend to notice more what an author is trying to do, which sort of spoils the plot.

If you want to purposefully study what you're reading, then I agree with Devor. If you feel an emotional reaction to something you've read, reflect on why you do. What did the author do to make you feel that reaction? How was the situation set up? Or why do you actually like the protagonist who is a jerk most of the book. Alternatively, the reverse is also useful. If you see a writer is trying to make you feel something, but you're not feeling it, consider why that is the case. What did the author do wrong?

 

[skip.knox]

I have any number of authors I admire. But when I try to look at them analytically, I don't get anywhere. For example, Charles Portis in True Grit performs miracles with dialog, but I can't use that voice. Likewise with Damon Runyon's short stories. Joseph Conrad's descriptive powers are stunning, but there's nothing there I can directly use.

In short, I can admire, but I cannot exploit. The most I can do is to keep them in mind as exemplars, as a standard to which to aspire. Inspiration but not imitation.

 

[pmmg]

I have any number of authors I admire. But when I try to look at them analytically, I don't get anywhere. For example, Charles Portis in True Grit performs miracles with dialog, but I can't use that voice. Likewise with Damon Runyon's short stories. Joseph Conrad's descriptive powers are stunning, but there's nothing there I can directly use.

In short, I can admire, but I cannot exploit. The most I can do is to keep them in mind as exemplars, as a standard to which to aspire. Inspiration but not imitation.

I dont know the impact of this. It all kind of just blends in to the mix. I have certainly picked up somethings, mostly along the lines of what I can get away with, but it would be hard to trace it back. In all my time, I can only think of one writer whose style I sometimes think on, but I could not never copy it. My own style is too strongly me to be borrowed from another.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

In my 20's I could be quite the mimic when writing, but it wasn't intentional. Tolkien and Conrad are two in particular... and the tone of Camus, but that would be via a translator, which seems odd. I'd also pick up some twang from Twain and Faullkner. So, for a long time I didn't read when writing. Now, my voice is set.

True Grit, never read the book, I might have to look into that.