Reading to Write Well: Develop Your Writing Style by Seeing How Others Write

If you're a writer, you may have heard the saying, "Read a lot and write a lot." But have you ever wondered why they say "read a lot"? After all, writers should be writing, not reading, right?

Writers learn no differently than babies and toddlers. We learn by watching other writers write (by reading them) and imitating what they do. When writers imitate another writer, the three most important things to remember are:

1. Read like a writer reads, not like a reader reads.
2. There's a big difference between imitation and copying.
3. Reading another author isn't the only way to learn, but it's the best way, for most writers.

When I say read like a writer, not a reader, I mean pleasure-readers don't usually inspect what they read-they don't look for what went into making the writing what it is, but only see the end result. They miss the small nuances that make a novel, short story, or poem readable in the first place, and wonderful when looking back. If a reader doesn't like a story, they can only rarely put their finger on why.

When a writer reads, it's much like a football player watching film of his opponents, looking for what they do well (their strengths) and what they do poorly (their weaknesses). If you read like a writer, you look for the author's style, voice, how well he does in characterization, dialogue, flow, and plot. Your goal isn't to read just for pleasure, but to read to discover why this particular book was published; why the agent or editor wanted to sell it, why the reader wants to read it, and why it's important that you, another writer, should study it.

The best way to learn to write well is to imitate what you saw the author do well, without repeating what that author did poorly. But there is a difference between this and flat out copying. New writers, young writers, inexperienced writers imitate so far as they use many of the same nuances such as flow, style, and pace. Imitation may lead to the use of the same diction, voice, or mood.

Copying-plagiarizing-takes place when the inexperienced writer no longer tries to incorporate another author's strengths into his own work, but begins to take line after line from the author's work-not just pacing, or examples of description, but entire passages.

Imitation is subtle; allowing you to use what is good in another's writing, but only in the context of your own unique story. When you imitate, you're not imitating the plot or the sequence of events, but the fiction devices that all great writers use to perfect story.

Imitation isn't the only way a writer can learn. College courses, reading books on the craft, and good old practice all lead to the same end result: better writing. But by reading another writer's work, you can see what you learn in class and how-to books actually completed, done, finished, as an example before your eyes. You can see how an author used back story in the context of his own work, and then you, as an imitating author, can imitate the back story in your story, to get a feel for how back story can be done well.

In order for a child to walk, she must watch someone else walk first. But that doesn't mean she will walk the same way once she gets the hang of her legs.

At some point in the learning process, writers who once imitated the devices of another begin to find their own unique ways of writing, but only because they learned how to do it someone else's way first. You simply won't imitate forever. Once you understand what other writers do to make their work publishable, you will naturally experiment with what you learned, going from imitator to original. Someday, young writers may imitate you.