Reading like a writer
Reading like a writer trains your brain to view text analytically for the purpose of improving your own writing. It's [[!critical reading]] for the purpose of applying techniques and learnings to your work. When you read like a writer, you're looking for choices that the author made and why they made those specific choices. You're paying attention to structure, techniques, tone, and vocabulary, rather than story.As you go further with your analysis, you can start to reimagine how the text was put together. Is there a different choice that you would've made? How might that affect the reader? What are the pros and cons of using this specific technique?Before you start reading any body of text, first understand:
- the context
- why the author wrote this book
- who the author is
- who the intended audience is
As you read, think about
- the author's purpose for this writing
- how effective the language is
- what types of evidence does the author use to support their claims?
- how the author moves from one idea to another
