There’s nothing that gives me more writing inspiration than reading. It could be the perfect word choice, a turn of phrase, or a story that unfolds at just the right rhythm. I read for pleasure but I also read to learn. Each story is a lesson in writing. Workshops and classes are great, don’t get me wrong. I especially enjoy them for the occasion to meet other writers. But reading offers the opportunity to learn from some of the best writers in the world, some no longer alive today.
Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose and A Swim in a Pond in The Rain by George Saunders illustrate how reading great (and not so great) writing can teach us what works and what doesn’t. Reading like a writer helps us to be on the lookout for new or better ways to write, at the sentence level but also from a big picture perspective.
When I read a short story that really grabs me, I pay attention to what the author has done: how did they open the story, how did they structure the story, what point of view did they use, what tense did they write in, how much dialogue did they use, how much interiority, and did the ending work for me. I reread the stories, sometimes a few times over.
Claire Keegan’s Foster is one such story. I dissected it sentence by sentence to better understand how she delivers such emotion with so little “telling” or interior monologue. We see, as readers, what the little girl in the story is experiencing through action and dialogue. It builds subtly, unfolding from the first page to the last. Keegan trusts the reader to understand and doesn’t ever knock them over the head with it. As a writer I know that I am prone to too much interiority – I often look back Keegan’s story for fresh inspiration and as a reminder of how less is more.
Sometimes I find myself blocked or falling back on what is familiar. Reading can unlock fresh energy. I have experimented with structure after discovering the imaginative and original approaches of other writers. My short story “State of Being” which was recently published in the Young Adult anthology I’m Here evolved in just that way. I read a story that unfolded in discreet snippets to great effect (I wish I could remember whose story it was now) and I wondered if I could do the same. With my science background, the idea of phase changes came to me, and from there the story of Sam blossomed. Snippets of Sam’s life told in six “chapters” – one for each of the phase changes of water: deposition, melting, evaporation, condensation, freezing, and sublimation. As another example, an online Master Class lecture by Joyce Carol Oates inspired me to experiment with different type of structure that jumped around in time.
It’s impossible for me to read without thinking of the choices the writer made along the way. I learn as much from the books I dislike as from those I love. But it’s the great ones that fuel me, propelling me to improve. So when I find myself in need of a dose of inspiration, I look to new writers (and old favourites) and see how they turn words into magic.