Ok, so I don’t mean that literally. Of course you should enjoy a book, that’s its purpose.
As a writer, we can evolve our craft and style by studying the work of others more successful than ourselves. We’re all apprentices until we have a collection of books to our name, and even then I don’t think any of us ever stop learning. A great way to learn the finesse of writing software, for example, is to look at other people’s code. Look at the elegant way they handled that case. Oh, that was a creative solution. I never thought of using that function that way. The same goes for most crafts. I learned a handful of techniques for soldering neat circuit boards from watching pros. Writing is the same, of course.
Go to your book shelf and pull down one of your favourite books, especially one by an author whose style you admire (and secretly model yourself after perhaps?) Seriously, do that right now.
If you’re like me, you’ve read it a dozen times, so you know the plot. Now read it objectively, cover to cover. Or pick a sample chapter or favourite scene.
I bet there’s something about that scene that you relate to above and beyond the story itself. Maybe it’s the prosaic narration, or the genius of the dialogue. Perhaps it’s how the author builds tension, or transitions from scene to scene. You choose. It’s probably the author’s distinct style, so drill into the paragraph and sentence construction to find the essence of that style. It’s amazing what you can learn doing this. Some examples:
- Many authors have distinctive phrases that they re-use. One of mine is “eye-corner”, a compact alternative to “corner of his eye” that I learned from Fritz Leiber. I’m not suggesting you plagiarize these sayings, only that when you start to notice them, it will open your mind to alternatives in your writing.
- Dialogue: I’m a sucker for punchy dialogue. I love to see whole pages of dialogue without a single (or few) action beat, and no indication of the speaker. If the dialogue is true to the character, you can tell whom is speaking. Learn how the masters do this. You won’t do it with all your dialogue, but it can serve for a quick-fired argument or witty exchange.
- Scene transitions: One of my weak points. After studying several novels, I learned a lot about masterful transitions that don’t rely upon either going to sleep or “housekeeping narrative”.
- Construction: I never used to give much thought to sentences or paragraphs other than trying to keep one idea per paragraph. Then I learned that you can change the pace and tone by varying sentence length. Actions scenes usually require short, snappy sentences. Chop out a single sentence into its own paragraph, and see how dramatic it is.
For more advanced homework, break your chosen book into a list of scenes. Ask some questions:
- Is the scene short or long? What difference does it make?
- How does it transition from the scene before to that after?
- What is the point of the scene? Boil it down. Is it action, backstory, flashback, character development, foreshadowing? It might serve more than one purpose, but why is the scene here?
- Is it narrative, pure dialog, or a mix? How different would it be the other way, e.g. changing a descriptive scene to a conversation?
- Where does the scene take place? Is it static, like a coffee shop, or is it dynamic, e.g. a conversation in a car chase or climbing a mountain? Are the locations minimalist, like a stage play, or do we romp around the world, like a Mission Impossible movie? How does the author use the location in the scene, or it is just background or eye candy?
- Is it fast or slow paced? Does the book start slow and rise to a crescendo at the climax, or is it more of a roller-coaster of ups and downs?
- POV: Why do you think the author chose his POV? How different would it be written from another POV, or multiple POV’s?
We all study “how-to” writing books, but don’t forget you can learn as much from studying your peers or masters. Genres carry their own styles and tricks too. The reader expects a certain amount of these, but introduce your own flavour into the mix, and try to give the reader a style he hasn’t seen before.
What do you look for, when you read a book objectively?
