One piece of advice new writers often hear is “Read.” And a lot of times, it’s not what a new writer wants to hear at all. They don’t want to read. They want to write! 

But here’s the thing. There are things you learn about writing that can only be taught through reading (Or listening. Audiobooks absolutely count.) Reading in your genre will teach you what is marketable and current, what’s been overdone and what hasn’t been done yet. What is taking your genre by storm? What could be a potential comp title for your book? Reading outside of your genre will expose you to new avenues to explore in your own writing. You might not be writing a romance, but reading one could help you strengthen your own romantic subplot. Not to mention exposure to other authors’ use of language will benefit your own prose. 

There are two ways to read, and both of them are useful to the writer. Reading for pleasure is just that, the books you pick up for fun. The next time you finish a book you’ve read for fun, ask yourself a few questions. Why did you pick it up? Did something about the cover or the blurb intrigue you? What did or didn’t you enjoy about it? Did it meet your expectations? What would you change about the story? These are all questions to get your writerly brain engaged. It’s a good exercise to do when thinking about any book you’ve read, but especially current books in the genre you write in—the books that are getting published for your audience. 

The second way to read is to read specifically as a writer. If you’ve never done this before, I find it helpful to start with books that you’ve already read, as it’s easier to keep yourself from being swept away in the plot. Also, with this method, you don’t necessarily need to read the entire book. (This method can also be done with movies and TV shows, which is how I learned to apply it back in college). 

First, you’re going to want to gather 5-10 books you want to analyze. For the most story specific benefit, these should be recently published books in the genre you’re writing. (If you don’t have a library card yet, I highly recommend getting one.) They should also be successful books. What counts as a successful book? That’s up to you, but they should be books that you enjoyed, that pulled you into the story and spoke to you somehow, because that is what you’re trying to accomplish with your own writing. Pick books that you wish you’d written. 

Once you have your books, you’re going to have to do some math. I know, we’re writers, but it’s simple, I promise. I find it easiest to do all the math before I get started with the reading, to keep a good flow. So, you take your book and you flip to the last page to find your page count. Divide it by two and find the middle page of your book. Then, flip a few pages back or forward to find the closest chapter beginning. (Or,  if you have an ebook or an audiobook you can use the percentages.) Do the same thing for 10%,  20-25%, and 75%-80% through the book. Once your books are marked, it’s time to read.

This is not something you can do in one sitting, nor should it be. It will take time for all the information to sink in so you can look for patterns. This is also not an exercise for looking to see if every best seller has a garden metaphor on page sixty-two or some ocean imagery at 12%. You’re looking to see what the author accomplishes by 10% in the novel—what have they set up, how drawn in are you—are you hooked yet? You want to see what kind of emotional stakes are playing out at the halfway point, how has the story built up to this point, where is it going now? And at 75%, have the stakes been raised? What is this story coming down to? What is it ultimately about? 

In college, we would watch 3-5 opening film scenes in a row, then discuss. If you have a writer’s group, this might be a fun activity, but if not you can jot down a few notes to compare for yourself when you’re done instead. I like to start with the openings of all the novels, read all of the first 10% in a row. This is the longest round because instead of reading a midpoint chapter, for example, you are reading the first 10% of the entire book to gauge the setup, so leave the most time for this section. Then, you can do the other sections each on a different day. Another method is to read the sections that you are working on in your novel. So if you are trying to plot out your midpoint, read a bunch of midpoints before you get back to it. Remember, you’re not looking for specific plot points unless it’s a requirement of your genre. Instead, you’re looking at how each author built their story in each section. 

The beauty of using this method verses a specific craft book is that it allows you to see all the nuances inherent in storytelling. You can see where authors adhere to structure and where they stray from it. More importantly you can see if they were successful in their deviation — if they broke the rules, what did it accomplish? Did it help the story? 

New writers and new film students are not so different. I had classmates who came in wanting to be the next Tarantino or to make the next Memento, and bemoaned having to learn the rules of scriptwriting. They were limiting. They made every movie the same. They were boring. And my professors would say some variation of, “You need to learn the rules so you know how to break them.” Reading ten openings or ten midpoints in a row will show you how often your favorite books are breaking the rules (or not), how they are breaking them (or not), and how the rules help the storytelling (or don’t.) And it’s not an exercise you need to do often. Once you’ve spotted the rules in action, they’re hard to unsee!