Member-only story
How to Read Like a Writer
4 reading tips to improve your writing, stat
This story is behind Medium’s membership paywall, which means the writer earns through our Partner Program. To become a Medium member, click here.
For the last year, I’ve been working nonstop with writers from outside of academia who want to be published authors. Here are two good things these creatives have in common: passion and determination. Here is one negative habit they share: they all read passively.
Passive reading—or pleasure reading—certainly has its time and place, namely on the beach or while tucked under a fuzzy blanket in a vacation rental. But if you truly want to publish, you have to learn to read professionally. You have to get super active with your reading—invest some actual sweat.
Here are a few tips that have helped me, personally, to switch from reading for pleasure to reading for performance. (Spoiler alert: they all involve figuring out how other writers accomplish things so you can do them, too.)
- Identify POVS and POV shifts: This is…
