What does it mean to read like a writer?
Over at the latest Glimmer Train bulletin, Anthony DeCasper offers a few tips about seeing and reading the world in terms of narrative design. He says:
Narrative design is the art of perception. By unpacking narrative design through reading, and rereading, we reveal not only an author’s way of seeing and thinking about the world but how the author collects their perceptions into an immersive story.
He goes on to argue that reading is writing if done with authorial intention. Read the entire essay.
Also this month at Glimmer Train:
Jane Friedman has spent nearly 25 years working in the book publishing industry, with a focus on author education and trend reporting. She is the editor of The Hot Sheet, the essential publishing industry newsletter for authors, and was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World in 2023. Her latest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press), which received a starred review from Library Journal. In addition to serving on grant panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Creative Work Fund, she works with organizations such as The Authors Guild to bring transparency to the business of publishing.
[…] Learn what it means to see and read the world in terms of narrative design. […]
We can speak in terms of narrative design, or we can call it structure; it is less important. But it is always good to emphasise the value of active, creative reading – or reading as a writer.
A naïve reader can allow him/herself to be absorbed by a story. An aspiring writer must put some mental effort in reading. To read like a writer means to be awake in order to pay attention to every detail.
Socrates had a point, long time ago, “Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have laboured hard for.”