This week’s article ‘Are You Reading Properly?’ explored the many reasons that reading benefits your own writing, and considered new methods of reading that help us to absorb, reflect, and learn about writing as a craft.
So this week we thought we’d create a writing prompt that encourages you to find out what really makes your favourite writing tick, and to employ those tricks and techniques in your own work.
Image Credit: Madeline Tosh via Flickr Creative Commons.
Read
While you’re reading your current book, keep an eye out for lines or paragraphs that catch your attention (or if you’re super keen to give this one a go, think of your favourite moment in a book you’ve already read). Make a note of it and keep it handy so you can refer back to it.
Reflect
Do a little analysis of the writing that grabbed you by writing down some quick notes about things like structure, voice, vocabulary, imagery – any technique that you can see. What exactly are they doing, and why did it have such an effect on you? Think about how the author has used these things to craft their writing and give meaning to their words.
Write
Pick a couple of techniques that are employed in your chosen passage and try to emulate them in a new piece of writing. It doesn’t have to be long if you don’t want it to be, just test the waters. The goal here is to embrace creative devices in your writing that have clearly ‘worked’ while reading, helping you to find and develop new skills as a writer.
This writing prompt is great because you can try it again and again whenever you come across a new technique in your reading, and by actively giving it a test run in your own stories and poems you’re broadening your creative arsenal.
Don’t forget to check out our original post about how to gain more from your reading, and to have a go at more of our writing prompts.
Happy reading and writing!