Reading With Purpose
To make it as a writer, you’ve got to read like it’s your job. Even if you’re not getting paid.
I know it doesn’t need to be said, but we all grew up loving books. That’s why we’re here, reading articles on the internet. That’s why we want to be writers. It’s been engrained into our DNA since we were little kids, devouring Harry Potter books as quickly as J.K. Rowling could write them.
As we’d read we’d dream about the books we’d one day write. Our ideas were terrible at the time — I say this because mine were the worst of all — but that wasn’t what mattered.
What mattered was that we were learning. We were learning from the most famous writer of our time. Every sentence and paragraph from the book’s were a direct route into her mind. It was like we’d been granted a one-on-one Masterclass for $12.99, or whatever it was that you paid for your copy.
And that’s what we’ve got to keep doing. Double down on what made you want to be a writer in the first place.
Read like it’s your job.
Don’t just read for pleasure, at least not all the time. If you ever want to make it as a writer, it’s time to start taking the act of reading seriously.
World-class athletes don’t just watch film, they study it. They look for anything, even the tiniest of detail, that can improve their game and give themselves a competitive advantage.
Us writers are the same, and the classics are our film. All of the greatest masters have never been more accessible, take advantage of the beautiful opportunity you’ve been granted. Read them, devour them, and learn a thing or two.
Here’s one of my favorite exercises to do when reading one of the great works, something I’m currently doing with Crime and Punishment.
Open the book up to a random page — make sure you’ve already read it and have a firm understanding of its plot and characters — and once you’re there pick a paragraph. Don’t overthink this, the beauty of these works is that there’s no bad paragraphs in them. Hardly even a single bad sentence. That’s how good they are.
Now that you’ve found your paragraph, it’s time to get started on the fun part of the exercise: the deconstruction. Grab a piece of paper or open a fresh Word doc and begin rewriting the paragraph. This will start to subconsciously create good habits in your writing brain.
But that’s not the end of things. No, we’re only just getting started.
Reread the paragraph again, but not how you’re used to reading. What we’re looking to do here is a close reading, paying attention to each and every last word as we move through the paragraph.
As you read each word, think about it deeply — don’t just go onto the next one. Think deeply about why the other choice that particular word. Why didn’t they choose something else? Why not a synonym.
Asking these questions and finding the answers to them will bring your writing forward by leaps and bounds. It won’t be a long before you start asking yourself those questions about your own writing. That’s when things really start to change.
That’s when you become a writer in the truest sense of the word.
