Hey everyone! I am back again with some more interesting posts! I’m excited to be on time so far. Here’s to hoping that I can stay up to date with these posts as we continue especially since I’m busy with my last semester of University. So, without further ado…
Develop As A Writer: Analyze The Fiction You Read
If you are a fiction writer you are probably a fiction reader. If you are a nonfiction writer you are probably a nonfiction reader. Whatever kind of writing you do most writers enjoy reading in some form. Reading the things you write and analyzing them can teach you new skills and things to improve that you might not find discussed in specific terms in a writing class. This post is aimed more towards fiction writers and the fiction they read but some of these can also apply to nonfiction writers.
Themes
One of the things that you can analyze is the themes of a story. This is something especially good to look for in books where you aren’t sure what the themes is because that’s the kind of writing most writers like. A book with a theme that isn’t immediately obvious and right in your face but that becomes clear as you read the story. When looking for themes its important to ask yourself questions like, “How does the author write the theme into the story?” or “How do they keep the theme consistent and present throughout the story?”. Once you’ve begun to learn about the theme its easier to look at your own writing and ask yourself how you can make your theme more like what you just read.
Writing Styles
Writing styles can be anything from the length and structure of their sentences, their emphasis on description or dialogue, to the voice in their story. Writing style in this case that I’m describing does not mean Point of View – that’s a different section on this post. Ask yourself questions about their writing style as you read like, “What is their writing style in one word?”, “How does their writing style affect how I’m reading the story (ie. does this section make me feel anxious and read faster, or calm to read slower)?” or “Why did they choose to explain that section in more detail but leave that explanation out?”.
After you’ve really asked yourself questions about writing style and come to your own answers like, “Maybe I read faster because the scene was stressful so the author wrote in shorter sentences with shorter words to make me feel more anxious.” then you can look at your own writing and ask yourself the same questions. Should I change the style of this sentence in these scene? Maybe I need to change the voice I’m sharing in this section to make it calmer. Apply some of the things you learned about writing style to your own writing.
Conflict
Conflict is also a very important part of a story and has more to do with plot development than something more abstract like theme or writing style. There are lots of different types of conflicts and lots of different ways to express conflict. Conflict is done differently in different genres. Maybe find a book in your own genre and focus on how they create conflict both large and small. Larger conflicts are easier to pick out. Maybe look for minor conflicts. How does the most recent decision by the side character make the main character feel? After you’ve read one or two books (or as many as you would like really) of that genre look at your own writing. Do you have big and small conflicts? What could you do to reduce conflict if you have too much? Or increase conflict if you don’t have enough?
Characters
Characters are important because they are the creations in your story that carry out the actions. Often the characters themselves help the author to develop the plot further than they had thought at first. This is my favorite think to look for when reading. My favorite broad question to think about is, “How did they make this character stand out?” or “Why do I like this character more than others?”. Often times the answers to these questions can help you to create more interesting and life like characters. But if they don’t you can always ask yourself more specific questions about character and then use those answers to make your characters more memorable.
Foreshadowing/Symbolism
Foreshadowing and Symbolism are hard for a lot of writers to put in their stories in a way that makes sense. I often struggle with foreshadowing in my stories – wanting to reveal too much too soon. Often I will read books in the genre I am writing and look for ways that good authors include their foreshadowing or the symbols that slowly become important throughout the story. “How do they bring in an important detail without being obvious?” or “How did they mention that item in the description without sounding strange?” Once you’ve found some answers to these questions expirement with it. Try different ways of adding foreshadowing and symbolism and find which way works for you.
Setting
Setting is another key part of a story that is more about plot development much like conflict. Settings can be fun to change around and mess with during writing dumps and practices. Take a story and set it in different places, does it change your story? Read different books and think about “Why is this setting important to the story?” or “How does this change in setting in this scene shift, affect the story.” Setting is often dismissed because it is something we are taught to have preset ideas for. Horror stories are often set on a dark and stormy night for example But setting, when applied correctly, can really affect the tone and meaning of a story. Use your analysis of setting in other’s books to make your better and more meaningful.
Point of View
Last of all, Point of view. And important aspect to every story this is also one that a lot of writers dismiss. I dismissed this as well for a very long time until recent years. It’s something that writers who read a lot often just skip over, taking it for granted that certain genres or styles have certain POV. But a change in POV can really effect your story. When reading you could ask yourself things like, “Why did they choose that specific POV for this story/this scene?” or “When they change from third to first person in this chapter, how did that change my POV?”. This is another one that I always recommend people expirement with. I always wrote in first person until a year ago when I began trying out some third person styles and discovered I found it much easier to write longform novels in third person and short stories in first.
No matter what genre you read and whether you prefer nonfiction or fiction, it’s always good to analyze the writing of other writers to learn from them. There are so many quotes out in the world about learning from those that come before us so why shouldn’t that apply to writing? You never know what new thing you will notice, what new skill you will decide to practice, because you read a book and noticed something new.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s post. I really enjoyed talking about this topic. I love reading and I always read books as ‘research’ on my next writing project. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, become a blog page member, share, and follow me on social media at the link on the bottom of the page. Next week we’ll be talking about learning lots of things and doing research. And remember,
Get Up, Get Writing, and Get Published. See you next week!
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