How to Read Like a Writer

In the article, “How to Read Like a Writer,” by Mike Bunn, he says “You are already an author “.  I have never heard of this expression. The article begins as a personal essay and as I read, it transitioned to a how-to article all about reading like a writer. I found this article interesting. When reading a book or an article, we read for a purpose, whether it’s for an assignment or for information. Mike Bunn brings an interesting point about how we should read like a writer. He says reading like a writer helps us understand the process of writing. When he says,”You are already an author,” I think he means that we are all capable of being authors. We just don’t realize it, but we can explore these different techniques from different writings and utilize it in our own writings. We already write daily. It can be a post on social media or an essay. If we can read like writers, we learn the new ways of writing, such as starting off with a quote, a question, something personal, or being humorous. 

After reading the article, I realized that I naturally already “read like a writer” somewhat. However, I’ve never really questioned why exactly an author would choose a word. English is a second language for me. When reading a book or an article, I come across words and expressions I’ve never heard of and I would look it up. Reading like a writer has helped me learn new vocabulary words. It has helped me improve my writing skills and communication skills. Identifying some of the words authors choose is one of the ways you can read like a writer, and it’s something I will continue to do so. I unknowingly read like a writer, but going forward, I would look into an authors writing much deeper.

Notes:

• To read like a writer means to examine what you read — what choice did the author make and what choice would you have made 
• Reading like a writer is different from normal reading as it’s a way to figure out texts that are used
• Instead of reading the way you would normally, Mike Bunn suggests to read like a writer to “see how something was constructed so that you can construct something similar yourself”
• RLW is more difficult than it sounds
• We’re focused on what we’re reading about. Now this new way of reading has us examining how the author came up with their choice of words and what technique was used for their writing. 
• Before reading: author’s purpose and audience? — Mike’s purpose is to encourage us to read like writers
• Determine the type of genre in a writing