Emulating What You Read

Every professional writer will argue that to be a writer you must also be a reader. You simply can't be a non-reader. It's just not acceptable. It doesn't work.

And here's why.

Everything in life is learned from a teacher. That teacher could be your parent, your school teacher, your boss, your coach, or your significant other. In the case of writers, that teacher could also be an author whose novel you read.

One of the things I think good writers need to do is to ask questions of what they read.

• Is it engaging? Why?
• Does it suck? Why?
• Is it hard to read? Why?
• Does it feel shallow? Why?

And then when you figure out what does work, you can emulate it. Just as you would do as a student of any discipline in life.

I think there's no shame in trying to emulate an author (or authors) whose reading you very much enjoy. Because sometimes that process will lead to a light bulb moment of sorts.

Case in point: I'm reading a Stephen King book right now. I've never read any of his fiction but I did read his autobiography, On Writing, and was enthralled. I am equally enthralled by this book and I've spent some time analyzing why that is.

And today I went back and started the editing process over, AGAIN, on my memoir. And I tried to emulate some of what I'd figured out. And you know what? I feel like the new material is actually good now. I read it and it captures me in a way that it didn't before.

So to all of my writing friends out there, make sure you're a voracious reader first. And while you don't have to constantly analyze what you're reading (let's face it, sometimes you just want to read without thinking - analyzing constantly was exhausting in college), sometimes it pays to step back and look at the craft.

And there, you have your teacher. Simple as that.