Reading Like a Writer
Reading Like a Writer is a writing guide by American writer Francine Prose, published in 2006.
 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Francine Prose |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Roberto de Viqde Cumptich |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Nonfiction |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
Publication date | 2006 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 275 pp |
| ISBN | 0-06-077704-4 |
| OCLC | 62762325 |
| 808/.02 22 | |
| LC Class | PE1408 .P774 2006 |
Background
Subtitled "A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them," — Prose shares how she developed her writing craft through writing and reading. She uses examples from literature to demonstrate how fictional elements, such as character and dialogue, can be mastered.
Summary
- Chapter One: Close Reading
Prose discusses the question of whether writing can be taught. She answers the question by suggesting that although writing workshops can be helpful, the best way to learn to write is to read. Closely reading books, Prose studied word choice and sentence construction. Close reading helped her solve difficult obstacles in her own writing.
- Chapter Two: Words
Prose encourages the reader to slow down and read every word. She reminds the reader that words are the "raw material out of which literature is crafted." Challenging the reader to stop at every word, she suggests the following question be asked: "What is the writer trying to convey with this word?"
- Chapter Three: Sentences
Prose discusses how "the well made sentence transcends time and genre." She believes the writer who is concerned about what constitutes a well-constructed sentence is on the right path. Prose mentions the importance of mastering grammar and how it can improve the quality of a writer's sentence. In this chapter, she also discusses the use of long sentences, short sentences, and rhythm in prose.
- Chapter Four: Paragraphs
Prose discusses that, just as with sentence construction, the writer who is concerned about paragraph construction is stepping in the right direction. She states that the writer who reads widely will discover there are no general rules for building a well-constructed paragraph, but "only individual examples to help point [the writer] in a direction in which [the writer] might want to go."
- Chapter Five: Narration
When determining point of view, Prose says audience is an important factor. She gives examples from literature of point-of-view variations. First person and third person are discussed, and even an example of writing fiction in second person is given.
- Chapter Six: Character
Using examples from the works of Heinrich von Kleist and Jane Austen, Prose discusses how writers can develop characterization. She mentions that Kleist, in his "The Marquise of O—" ignores physical description of the characters, but instead "tells us just as much as we need to know about his characters, then releases them into the narrative that doesn't stop spinning until the last sentence . . ." Excerpts from other pieces of literature are used to show how action, dialogue and even physical description can help develop characterization.
- Chapter Seven: Dialogue
Prose begins this chapter by dispelling the advice that writers should improve and clean up dialogue so it sounds less caustic than actual speech. She believes this idea on dialogue can be taken too far and that dialogue can be used to reveal not only the words on the surface, but the many motivations and emotions of the characters underneath the words.
- Chapter Eight: Details
Using examples from literature, Prose explains how one or two important details can leave a more memorable impression on the reader than a barrage of description.
- Chapter Nine: Gestures
Prose argues that gestures performed by fictional characters should not be "physical clichés" but illuminations that move the narrative.
- Chapter Ten: Learning from Chekhov
Prose gives examples of what she has learned from reading Anton Chekhov. As a creative writing teacher, she would disseminate advice to her students after reading their stories. As a fan of Chekhov, she would read his short stories and find examples of how he would successfully break the "rules" of fiction writing, contradicting something she recently told her students to do in their writing projects. Prose also discusses how Chekhov teaches the writer to write without judgment; she tells how Chekhov practiced not being the "judge of one's characters and their conversations but rather the unbiased observer."
- Chapter Eleven: Reading for Courage
Prose discusses the fears writers may have: revealing too much of themselves in their writing; resisting the pressures that writers must write a certain way; determining whether or not the act of writing is worth it when one considers the state of the world. She concludes her book by stating that the writer may fear creating "weeds" instead of "roses." Continuing the metaphor, she says reading is a way for the writer to see how other gardeners grow their roses.
- Books to Be Read Immediately
Prose includes a list of book recommendations, many of which have selections from those that are used as examples for the concepts she discusses.
Books to be Read
Here are the books in mostly chronological order. The chapters in which they are discussed are in italics.
Sophocles (trans. Sir George Young) Oedipus Rex
Anonymous (trans. Dorothy L. Sayers) The Song of Roland
Miguel de Cervantes (trans. Tobias Smollett) Don Quixote
John Milton Paradise Lost
Samuel Richardson Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded
Johnson Samuel The Life of Savage Sentences
Gibbon Edward Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Austen Jane Sense and Sensibility Paragraphs Character
Austen Jane Pride and Prejudice Paragraphs Character
Von Kleist Heinrich (trans. Martin Greenberg) The Marquise of O---- and Other Stories Sentences Character
Stendhal (trans. Roger Gard) The Red and the Black Paragraphs
Balzac Honore de (trans. Kathleen Raine) Cousin Bette
Gogol Nikolai (trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky) Dead Souls: A Novel Courage
Dickens Charles Dombey and Son Narration
Dickens Charles Bleak House
Bronte Emily Wuthering Heights
Turgenev Ivan Sergeevich (trans. Isaiah Berlin) First Love
Eliot George Middlemarch Character
Melville Herman Bartleby the Scriverner Paragraphs
Melville Herman Moby Dick
Melville Herman Benito Cereno
Flaubert Gustave (trans. Geoffrey Wall) Madame Bovary Courage
Flaubert Gustave (trans. Robert Baldick) A Sentimental Education Character
Dostoyevsky Fyodor (trans. Constance Garnett) Crime and Punishment Narration Courage
Tolstoy Leo (trans. David McDuff) The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories
Tolstoy Leo (trans. Aylmer Maude) The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories Courage
Tolstoy Leo (trans. Constance Garnett) Anna Karenina
Tolstoy Leo (trans. Constance Garnett) War and Peace
Tolstoy Leo (trans. Rosemary Edmonds) Resurrection
Alcott Louisa May Little Women
Twain Mark The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Narration
Baldwin James Vintage Baldwin Paragraphs
James Henry The Portrait of a Lady Gesture
James Henry The Turn of the Screw Narration
Chekhov Anton (trans. Constance Garnett) Tales of Anton Chekhov: Volumes 1-13 Detail Gesture Chekhov Courage
Chekhov Anton (trans. Constance Garnett) A Life in Letters Detail
Strunck William The Elements of Style, Illustrated Sentences
Proust Marcel (trans. Lydia Davis) Swann's Way Gesture
Stein Gertrude The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Sentences
Woolf Virginia On Being Ill Sentences
Joyce James Dubliners Sentences Gesture
Kafka Franz (trans. Malcolm Pasley) Metamorphosis and Other Stories Detail
Kafka Franz The Judgement Gesture
Kafka Franz In the Penal Colony
Stout Rex Plot it Yourself Paragraphs
Mansfield Katherine Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield Words Gesture
Chandler Raymond The Big Sleep Sentences Gesture
Akutagawa Ryunosuke (trans. M. Kuwata and Tashaki Kojima) Rashomon and Other Stories
Paustovsky Konstantin Years of Hope: The Story of a Life Paragraphs
West Rebecca The Birds Fall Down Sentences
West Rebecca Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia Sentences
Babel Isaac (trans. Walter Morrison) The Collected Stories Paragraphs Courage
Hartley L.P. The Go-Between Gesture
Fitzgerald F. Scott The Great Gatsby Words
Fitzgerald F. Scott Tender is the Night Words
Hemingway Ernest The Sun Also Rises Sentences
Hemingway Ernest A Moveable Feast Sentences
Bowen Elizabeth The House in Paris Detail
Nabokov Vladimir Lectures on Russian Literature Chekhov
Nabokov Vladimir Lolita Narration Dialogue
Mandelstam Nadezdha Hope Against Hope: A Memoir Words
Stead Christina The Man Who Loved Children Dialogue
Green Henry Doting Dialogue
Green Henry Loving Dialogue
Beckett Samuel The Complete Short Prose, 1929-1989 Gesture Courage
Steegmuller Francis Flaubert and Madame Bovary: A Double Portrait
Bowles Paul Paul Bowles: Collected Stories and Later Writings
Cheever John The Stories of John Cheever Sentences
Jarrell Randall Pictures from an Institution
Bowles Jane Two Serious Ladies Narration Dialogue
Rulfo Juan (trans. Margaret Sayers Peden) Pedro Paramo Courage
Taylor Peter A Summons to Memphis Narration
Salinger J.D. Franny and Zooey Detail
Gaddis William The Recognitions
Gallant Mavis Paris Stories Narration
Calviino Italo Cosmicomics
Fox Paula Desperate Characters Paragraphs
Herbert Zbigniew (trans. Czeslaw Milosz and Peter Dale Scott) Selected Poems Courage
O'Connor Flannery Wise Blood Narration Gesture
O'Connor Flannery A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories Words
O'Connor Flannery Collected Stories Detail
Yates Richard Revolutionary Road Words
Marquez Gabrial Garcia One Hundred Years of Solitude Paragraphs
Marquez Gabrial Garcia The Autumn of the Patriarch Paragraphs
Trevor William The Collected Stories
Trevor William Fools of Fortune
Trevor William The Children of Dynmouth
Elkin Stanley Searches and Seizures Sentences
Brodkey Harold Stories in an Almost Classical Mode Narration Dialogue
Barthelme Donald Sixty Stories
Munro Alice Selected Stories Words
LeCarre John A Perfect Spy Dialogue
Roth Philip American Pastoral Sentences
Roth Philip Philip Roth: Novels and Stories 1959-1962 Gesture
Johnson Diane Persian Nights Narration
Johnson Diane Le Divorce Narration
Pynchon Thomas Gravity's Rainbow
Carver Raymond Where I'm Calling From: Selected Stories Sentences Paragraphs
Carver Raymond Cathedral
Dybek Stuart I Sailed with Magellan Narration
Williams Joy Escapes Dialogue
Spencer Scott A Ship Made of Paper
O'Brien Tim The Things They Carried Sentences
Baxter Charles Believers: A Novella and Stories Gesture
Gates David The Wonders of the Invisible World: Stories Dialogue
Johnson Denis Jesus' Son
Johnson Denis Angels Paragraphs
Tolstaya Tatyana Sleepwalker in a Fog Words
Wagner Bruce I'm Losing You Character
McInerney Jay Bright Lights, Big City Narration
Franzen Jonathan The Corrections Paragraphs
Eisenberg Deborah The Stories (So Far) of Deborah Eisenberg Narration
Price Richard Freedomland Narration
St. Aubyn Edward Some Hope: A Trilogy Gesture
St. Aubyn Edward Mother's Milk Dialogue
Wood James Broken Estates: Essays on Literature and Belief
Diaz Junot Drown Gesture
Shteyngart Gary The Russian Debutante's Handbook Paragraphs
Packer ZZ Drinking Coffee Elsewhere Gesture
Pautovsky Konstantin (trans. Joseph Barnes) Years of Hope: The Story of a Life