Have any questions? Live chat

Writing Blog

How Reading Helps You Become a Better Writer

October 13, 2017| Category: Writing Tips

Being a writer, you should understand that it isn’t only the writing practice that is important for your experience. It’s also reading. Most successful writers constantly read books and do it not just mindlessly enjoying them. They are always searching for the things that make this particular book work.

4writers-How Reading Helps You Become a Better Writer

Keep that in mind when you are thinking about the ways to improve your writing. Do you read books that keep you going and help you learn new writing techniques? Whether you do this or not, you will surely become a better writer by using the following 7 recommendations inspired by amazing novels!

1. Begin in the middle of the action. Let us take the very beginning of Pride and Prejudice? It begins with the dialogue between Mr. and Mrs. Bennett who talk about Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy coming to town. Right away, the reader sees the dramatic question of the book (which is how will they marry off their daughters without having any money?) and the obstacle (which is Mr. Bennett’s refusal from visiting Mr. Bingley). And it’s all done through a simple dialogue – with no narration, no wasted words, no journeys into characters’ heads and no background information. This is a very good example of how you can begin your book right in the middle of the action. By doing this, you can capture the reader’s attention from the very beginning and give them some good hooks.

2. Heartbreak makes readers stay with the book. The best example that proves this is The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. There is the heartbreak that makes this book so strong and there is the necessity to keep it in secret that makes it even more powerful. When you see the character living with her loss and not being able to share it with others, you certainly bind emotionally to the book. You can’t stop reading it. You want to know what’s going to happen next to the heroine, how she’s going to overcome everything and find her way in life.

3. Do the unexpected things. In case your narration is expectable, your readers will certainly be disappointed. So it is better if you add some unexpected turns. Add surprises for your reader. Make them anticipate the next twist. This way, you will create the narrative tension and bind your readers to your book. To grasp the idea, let us consider the novels by Dorothy Dunnett. Those are six historical fiction stories that tell about extremely complicated characters. They can even be called one of the most complicated characters you ever see in fiction. This complexity keeps the reader interested. While reading these stories, you can never know what is going to happen next and what the character will do. It is certainly good when the plot suggests surprises, yet, they have to be believable. Moreover, to keep her readers even more interested, Dunnett puts them into the conditions that seem to be hopeless. Moreover, even when you think that the character won’t overcome this situation, they always do – and they do this due to their intelligence. It’s never a coincidence but a well-thought course of events.

4. It isn’t necessary to create beautiful heroines. Often it’s better to create the heroines that don’t conform to ideals. One of the brightest examples of that is Jane Eyre. Yes, she is not a beautiful woman, but her courage makes her an extremely attractive person. And this is much more important.

5. Not all readers will like your protagonist. The main heroine of Little Women, Jo March, is the favorite character for most readers. But still, there are those who don’t like her. Some of the readers didn’t really want to see her story as much and wanted to know more about the lives of other heroines, such as Amy. The same can happen to your character. Even if you try to bring out the best in him or her, there will always be people who won’t like this character. So better don’t try to make your readers like them, but make them interested in the story you are telling.

6. Add drama. There are lots of examples of that. Those are the books by Danielle Steele, Barbara Bradford and, of course, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind. All of them teach about the importance of drama, even though sometimes they do this too hard by adding too many emotions. However, the good thing is that they never stand still and just reflect on the meaning of life. They show the transformations of the characters and give the reader a proof that it’s always possible to do something.

7. Tragedy is essential for the triumph. Sometimes writers can be too kind to their characters, wanting only good things to happen to them. Even though it is understandable, it’s bad for the book. By doing this, you can’t show the reader what’s going on inside your character’s soul. Let’s take Lois Lowry’s book A Summer to Die as an example. It tells a story of two sisters, and one of them suffers from leukemia. Eventually, she dies and her 10-year-old sister has to handle this terrible loss. This book doesn’t only make you cry. It also makes you smile at the end, when you see the girl learning to live a new life. Strong, isn’t it?

Tags
"sandwich" approach A+ essay abstract abstract writing academic paper academic paper outline academic papers academic paper writing academic requirements academic sources academic writer academic writing academic writing issues academic writing rules academic writing tips active and passive voice in research writing active voice additive transitions adversative transitions a good book report a good summary AI-generated content AI-generated writing Alternative hypothesis an introduction to academic writing annotated bibliography annotation APA style appeals to trust and connection argument argument analysis argument analysis assignment argument analysis essay argumentative essay argumentative writing argument paragraph arguments article articles a thesis statement become a better writer become a writing guru bias bias-free writing blogs Bloom’s Taxonomy body paragraph body sentences boost academic vocabulary brainstorming business capitalization capitalization rule capitalize capstone paper capstone project career career in writing causal transitions challenges a new freelance writer may face with characteristics of academic writing chronological order citation cite the source clarity in writing clients closing sentences coherent academic writing college essays college writing common mistakes comparative essay compare and contrast paragraph complex assignment Complex hypothesis concept map concluding paragraph concluding sentence conclusion conclusion in academic writing conclusion in an essay conclusion writing conduct a search content content writing coordination counterargument Covid-19 creating concluding sentences creating PowerPoint presentations credible resources credible sources customer feedback decode instructions decoding professors’ instructions definition of proofreading descriptive headings descriptive paragraph diagrams difference between a literature review and an annotated bibliography division double quotation marks edit your writing effective conclusion effective headings effective paragraph elements of academic language elements of paper writing emotional appeals Empirical hypothesis essay's conclusion essay mistakes essay paragraph essay pitfalls essays essay structure essays writing essays writing tips essays writitng tips essay writing ethos explain complex concepts expository essay features of academic writing figure figures and tables first-person pronouns flow of ideas free freelance freelance jobs freelancer freelance writer freelance writers freelance writing freelance writing business Google in academic writing graphs handling difficult tasks headings heuristics high-quality papers higher-level headings high grades high school-level composition high school assignments how reading helps you become a better writer how to avoid plagiarism how to write how to write a good film review how to write capstone paper how to write phd hypothesis hypothesis writing important improve writing skills in-text citations incorporation of visuals intellectual property interpret instructions intransitive verb introduction introduction paragraph introductory paragraph italics italics for titles job journal judgmental language language and style literature review Logical hypothesis logos lower-level headings main point of the paragraph make the article engaging meeting deadlines meeting the requirements meet the deadlines methodology methodology chapter methodology section MLA style narrative paragraph non-descriptive heading note taking Null hypothesis objective tone objective writing objectivity online online writers opening paragraph opinion essay order of importance outline outline writing paper outline papers parallelism paraphrase paraphrasing passive voice past simple pathos peer response peer review personal pronouns personal response personal response essay personal response paper persuasion persuasive essay persuasive writing PhD research proposal plagiarism plan for writing planning popular and scholarly sources popular sources positive feedback PowerPoint presentation PowerPoint Presentation tips PPT PPTs presenting data in figures and tables present perfect present simple primary research problems writers face procrastination profession professional freelance writer pronouns proofreading tips qualitative methods quality quantitative methods quotation marks quotation marks for titles quote quoting racist and sexist biases in AI papers reduce word count redundancy redundant reliable sources repetition repetitive sentences repetitive writing reputable sources research research paper research paper in college research paper in high school research paper writing revising an essay rhetoric rhetorical devices rules of academic writing satisfy your customers scholarly archives scholarly materials scholarly sources second-person pronouns secondary research sentence structure sequential transitions Simple hypothesis simplifying complex assignments single quotation marks skills sources spatial order specificity spell checker spelling spelling error spelling rules start writing statistical data in academic papers Statistical hypothesis statistics statistics in academic writing stop procrastinating strong topic sentences structure of an expository essay subheadings subordination success successful academic writing successful papers successful paraphrasing suitable concluding sentences summary summary writing supporting evidence synthesis paper synthesize information synthesize sources table tables tables/graphs/charts task list as a guide techniques for writing summaries techniques to explain a difficult subject tenses in academic writing text structure the contents of the paper the main intention of the assignment thesis statement the structure of body paragraphs thinking levels third-person pronouns time management tips on revising an essay tips to writing a PhD research proposal tips to writing a social science paper token sentences topic of the paragraph topic sentence transitional words transitions transition terms transitive and intransitive verbs transitive verb types of academic texts typical writing problems unique idea use Google for research utilizing AI tools in academic papers vocabulary vocabulary building well-structured essay what writers can learn from reading novels word choice word count work wrap sentences write a conclusion writer writer job write unique texts writing writing a book report writing a film review writing a good PhD research proposal writing an A+ film review writing an essay writing an outline writing a paragraph writing as profession writing a statement writing a summary writing burnout writing clear writing errors writing essays writing fast writing hacks writing job writing mistakes writing papers writing pitfalls writing process writing skills writing style writing tips