How much would you LOVE a workshop where you’d learn the exact craft tools your favourite authors use to cast a spell over their readers? Listen up because today’s video is going to show you a super simple FREE way to learn ALL the tricks from the pros.
Watch the video here
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to make learning from your favourite authors super easy and fun.
- 4 steps to become a better writer NOW.
- The key to improve your writing.
- How to become a better writer by becoming a better reader.
- A few pro tips for your own personal book club for writers (You’ll see what I mean when you listen to the video or check out the key takeaways below)
Resources Featured In This Episode On The Best Way To Improve Your Writing:
Your key takeaways from ‘The Best Way To Improve Your Writing (It’s Free!)’
A bit of background… in 2020 Mary approached me with her idea of launching an online book club for writers where we alternated monthly discussions about craft in some of our favourite novels and memoirs.
Deconstruction has been part of my teaching process for as long as I’ve been teaching creative nonfiction – the same way that you might learn how a clock works by taking it apart and trying to put it back together.
It’s super easy and FUN to learn from your favourite authors just by reading closely and thinking about what is happening in a story, why it’s working, and how they did it.
I’m going to break down how to do this in four simple steps so you can start integrating this practice into your writing life with stories of ANY genre or length…
- Pick a book by an author you love in any genre. Remember, techniques used in poetry can be used in fiction or creative nonfiction.
- Read for enjoyment with attentive curiosity. Be aware of how you’re reacting to a sentence and ask what it was about it that struck you. What it is about it that’s working and HOW the author did it.
- Think bigger, about the story’s structure and shape. Why did the author make the choices they did about how many sections, chapters, and titles? Is there anything interesting or unusual happening structurally that could help guide your own writing?
- Keep notes about the techniques you’d like to try. Refer to them when you’re stuck or just want to try something different. You might even want to devote a page in your notebook to a style cheat sheet, where you note three or four techniques you notice a writer uses consistently to tell their stories. Try out one, two, or all of them, just to see what happens in your own writing.
A few pro tips for your own personal book club for writers:
* It’s important to know the craft tools available to you so you can identify the techniques an author is using in their work. Knowing about literary devices – like symbolism, metaphor, and rhythm – can help deepen your understanding of WHY a story is working and will make for a more interesting discussion, too.
* Do it with a friend! When Mary and I record an episode of Craft Talk Book Club, having someone to chat with helps deepen my appreciation of a story. Often we come to our discussions having noticed some of the same elements an author is working with – but we also notice different things, which helps us see a story we’ve read in a new way.
If you want to check out how Mary and I deconstruct the books we love, tune into an episode of Craft Talk Book Club at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Podbean. You’ll find links to our podcast in the resources section on this page!