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

Description

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 Cover Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Prologue: (or Brief Introduction) Reading Closely and Reading Critically—the Way Writers Do Lessons in Reading the Way Writers Do Sample Readings and Questions Reading to Generate Material Getting Started: Strategies for Reading the Way Writers Do Lesson 1 Reading Genre The Concept of Genre Reading Inside Genre Lesson 1 Discussion Questions and Writing Prompts Writing Prompts: Focus on Genre Lesson 2 Hybrids and Multi-genre Work Reading beyond Genre Lines Naming and Identifying Hybrid/Multi-genre Work Established Hybrids Emerging Hybrids: Borrowed Forms (in General) and List Forms (Specifically) Reading Hybrid and Multi-genre Work: The Big Picture Lesson 2 Discussion Questions and Writing Prompts Writing Prompts: Focus on Hybrid/Multi-genre Lesson 3 Short Forms and Digital Media Length and Short Forms Digital Media Platforms for Creative Writing Lesson 3 Discussion Questions and Writing Prompts Writing Prompts: Focus on Short-Form Writing and Digital Media Lesson 4 Plot, Narrative Arc, Conflict, and Central Theme, Concept, Image, Sense, or Emotion Narrative Forces Reading for Plot, Narrative Arc, and Conflict Non-narrative Forces Reading for Central Theme/Concept and Resonating Image, Sense, or Emotion Lesson 4 Discussion Questions and Writing Prompts Writing Prompts: Focus on Plot, Narrative Arc, Conflict, Central Theme, and Resonating Image Lesson 5 Structure The Concept of Structure Structural Mechanics and Devices Overall Structure: The Order in Which the Writing Appears on the Page Braided Additional Considerations for Non-narrative Creative Nonfiction Structures Additional Considerations for Poetic Structures Authorial Choices about Structure Reading for Structure Transitions Image and Text Reading Strategy for Structure Lesson 5 Discussion Questions and Writing Prompts Writing Prompts: Focus on Structure Lesson 6 Character Development Getting Acquainted: Discovering Depth and Nuance When the Narrator Is Also a Character Exploring Character Development in Non-narrative Forms Reading for Character Development: Further Considerations Lesson 6 Discussion Questions and Writing Prompts Writing Prompts: Focus on Character Development Lesson 7 Point of View Point of View as a Lens Narrator/Speaker First, Second, Third When the Narrator Is Also the Writer: Special Complexities of POV in Creative Nonfiction When the Lens Includes Actual Images: POV in Graphic and Photographic Narrative Lesson 7 Discussion Questions and Writing Prompts Writing Prompts: Focus on Point of View Lesson 8 Setting Place Environment Time Constructing Setting Setting in Place-Based and Environmental Literature Setting in Graphic and Photographic Writing Lesson 8 Discussion Questions and Writing Prompts Writing Prompts: Focus on Setting Lesson 9 Scene What Is Scene? When Writers Use Scene Short, Long, and In-between: How Much Page Space Should a Scene Use? Scenic Rendering without Full Scenes Scene in Visual Hybrids Lesson 9 Discussion Questions and Writing Prompts Writing Prompts: Focus on Scene Lesson 10 Language Developing a Literary Ear: Structure, Shape, Length, and Sound Sensory Language Breaking the Formal Rules Minding the Writerly Rules Working the Language Lesson 10 Discussion Questions and Writing Prompts Writing Prompts: Focus on Language The End (or Afterword) Readings Additional Readings Index