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Abstract

g because we have a more natural inclination to dive deeper and internalize what we learn if we are interested in it.</p><p id="6c68">How much do you want to emulate the writer’s style? There’s definitely a place in close reading to study what “not” to do for your writing goals, but focusing on the things you don’t like doesn’t necessarily help you get better as much as focusing on the things that you do like. Choose someone that you actually want to write like to study — a personal writing coach, if you will.</p><p id="542f">I also suggest sticking with something that you already have a close tie to emotionally. It is these pieces that stick with us and, for many of us, what inspires us to write our own stories.</p><h2 id="19c2">Read it through first</h2><p id="8db8">This one should be self explanatory, but my students often take an initial read for granted. If you choose to study a specific section or line, you won’t understand the full weight of the author’s choices if you don’t understand the entire text, so make sure to read through the entire thing first.</p><p id="1d3e">The homework I assign when starting to teach close reading is to have students bring a text from home. My definition of a text is very loose, so they usually bring something they are already comfortable with.</p><p id="f4f6">From manga to scientific journals to the back of a cereal box, if it interests them and has a good chunk of words, it counts. This also makes sure that it is something that they’ve already done at least a cursory read on.</p><figure id="3033"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*J5JSgq_qsiBxxBar"><figcaption>Printing out a copy or writing directly in your book are both ways to start marking up your close reading text. Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@uns__nstudio?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Unseen Studio</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><h1 id="1cbd">Marking a text</h1><p id="514b">When you’re ready to begin close reading a passage, it can be helpful to mark up the text with notes, comments, questions, etc. to track your thought process.</p><p id="30ed">Some notes I make include:</p><h2 id="ed06">What does the text say?</h2><ul><li>Summarize it succinctly to get the gist of what is actually <i>in </i>the passage. Sometimes, this looks like a single sentence, other times it might be a bullet point of details or events that happen.</li><li>What type of writing is it: definition, description, dialogue, inner monologue, factual support?</li></ul><h2 id="1a49">How does it say it?</h2><ul><li>I’ll highlight or circle key words or phrases that resonate with me, even if I can’t identify why yet.</li><li>Provide context along the sides; what information do I need before this for this to make sense and/or what does this connect to later on?</li><li>Identify any figurative language or rhetorical strategies that stand out.</li></ul><h1 id="99a9">Examining the text</h1><p id="4131">Once you’ve gone through and taken a look at the piece from a reader’s perspective, it is time to <a href="https://readmedium.com/authors-purpose-start-thinking-like-a-writer-1edc84a2ebb8">start thinking like a writer</a>.</p><h2 id="25fb">Look for the effect it has on you</h2><p id="b116">My students might write reactions like “What?! He can’t die!” at a big reveal or “I never considered this point of view” at a new piece of scientific data. They might also write things like “Why is it described as a ‘dust-infested curio’?” when coming across some interesting descriptions.</p><p id="1b56">There are also those books that give you second-hand embarrassment or make you sit up straight and reread it just to make sure your brain read it correctly. And, of course, there are those that make you laugh out loud, change your opinion, or even shed some — or many — tears. (Chapter 89 of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76715522-kingdom-of-ash">Kingdom of Ash</a>, anyone?)</p><p id="dbb5">These types of effects are good indicators of places that we want to slow down and really understan

Options

d what the author did to get that sort of a reaction out of us so that we can do the same for our <a href="https://readmedium.com/understanding-audience-creating-an-engaging-reader-experience-49f3dba53e8e">readers</a>.</p><h2 id="d2eb">Choose a particular lens or focus</h2><p id="eadb">You can also focus on something specific to learn. For example, you might choose a discussion from a story where a piece of information is dropped that becomes really important later. What made you skip over this and not even realize it? How does the author remind you of it later on? How can you get better at foreshadowing like this?</p><p id="0713">Alternatively, you can take that same discussion and examine what makes the dialogue feel more natural or loaded.</p><p id="c66f">Consider what the <a href="https://readmedium.com/authors-purpose-start-thinking-like-a-writer-1edc84a2ebb8">purpose </a>is that you are trying to accomplish in your own writing, and how does this piece help you learn to achieve that?</p><h2 id="8bf8">Dissect the “why”</h2><ul><li>Why did they write it <i>this </i>way?</li><li>Why did it affect you? Why do you think, feel, or do something in response?</li><li>Why does it work?</li></ul><p id="d1b0">Things that you might consider looking more closely at:</p><ul><li>imagery and figurative language use to help something resonate with you</li><li>the setting or context that surrounds the passage</li><li>language choices the author makes that could have been done in a different way to a lesser effect</li><li>prior knowledge that the reader has that adds weight to this passage</li><li>the irony of the situation or information</li><li>a revelation of some kind that causes you as the reader or a character within a text to rethink or react</li><li>any humor, or attempts at humor, and why it hit the right comedic beat (or didn’t)</li><li>embarrassment usually comes from a close connection, or feeling aligned with the character in the text</li><li>pain or loss are universal emotions that hit heavy, but they can fall flat if not presented in a way that makes it feel like a fresh wound (to character and reader)</li><li>breaking expectations or changing a trope can be something that makes a reader stop and rethink things</li></ul><figure id="4b5c"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*vEmhcdnb2KgsyabM"><figcaption>Now is the time to jump in and get your own hands dirty by testing out what you’ve learned from the close reading passage. Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@amavcinema?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Amauri Mejía</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><h1 id="00e4">Next steps</h1><p id="bc32">Now comes the time to take your notes and findings and try to recreate them in your own style, story, or content area. One way to do this is to closely mimic the passage you are close reading and then gradually change the language and syntax until it fits your style better.</p><p id="5013">Another option is to write a single line multiple times, trying to vary the tools that you use to get the same effect of the close reading passage. Then, compare each of the attempts you made and try to see what works, what doesn’t, and how they match up to the original passage.</p><p id="5f75">Either way, learning is just the first step. After you close read, how will you take that new knowledge and translate it into your own work?</p><p id="e5e8">So, the next time you find a piece of writing that moves you, mark it and consider why with these questions:</p><ul><li>What is so impactful about this piece?</li><li>How did the writer achieve that impact? Vivid language, background, context, or something else?</li><li>How can you replicate that effect in your own writing?</li></ul><p id="c8c1">If you’re interested in seeing some of these close reading “case studies,” sign up for <a href="https://lesliearambula.substack.com/?r=3jg4k4&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist">my new newsletter </a>where I pull different texts and share craft lessons I’ve learned from them.</p></article></body>

Writing 101

Close Reading: Writing Lessons from Your Favorite Texts

The best writing lessons are often found in texts that you already know and love — if you know what to look for

Let’s talk about investigating and breaking down how the writers that we admire accomplish affecting their audience. Photo by Houcine Ncib on Unsplash

Many times, when I talk to other writers, the conversation about a great text stays at a surface-level focus: “It had a great cast of characters,” “Didn’t you love that plot twist?” or “I hated the final chapter. It was so disappointing.”

But why? Why is it great or exciting or disappointing? And how can we use that information to make our own writing better?

Close reading (not to be confused with cloze reading) is a strategy that is taught to elementary students to help them learn how to tackle difficult texts on their own. Essentially, it teaches you to be an active reader; instead of just consuming a text, you are looking for meaning in it and connecting to meaning beyond it.

However, when my college students come to class, we take close reading to a different level: I’m not just looking for active reading and interpretation of the ideas in the text, I’m asking them to look for ways to improve their own writing using the text as a guide.

While I could provide different lessons from craft books and other helpful writing guides (and sometimes, I do), those usually go over my students’ heads or are not actually implemented when it comes time to write. They treat it like a teenager who refuses good advice from a family member simply because it is coming from a family member.

Close reading forces them to make these connections themselves and is usually more effective when it comes to actually using the lessons that help improve their writing. It also helps me with my own writing; I study books, articles, and even shows that I enjoy in order to strengthen my own skills and style.

Here is some more information to help you start close reading and learning from the texts you admire the most.

Choosing a text

When choosing a text to close read, there are a few important aspects to keep in mind. These can help you get the most out of the process without feeling overwhelmed by trying to analyze an entire text.

Start with something small

One huge way that students often fail with close reading is to try and use it for an entire short story or novel. That requires so much brain power and focus that my brain goes a little haywire just thinking about it.

Instead, try something small. This might be a chapter, article, or even a poem. But, it could also be something like a specific line (openers are great places to start) or sentences or paragraphs.

Align it with your interests

Since you’re not being assigned anything by an instructor, you can choose whatever it is that you want to close read. However, you may want to consider a few things:

How well do you know the text? If you don’t know it very well, will you actually be able to pinpoint a passage that is worth studying?

How familiar are you with the topic or plot? Part of this strategy is that you dive into the full context of the piece, even if you are only looking at a specific section.

How interested are you in the content? Interest is one of the best gauges of whether or not we should study something because we have a more natural inclination to dive deeper and internalize what we learn if we are interested in it.

How much do you want to emulate the writer’s style? There’s definitely a place in close reading to study what “not” to do for your writing goals, but focusing on the things you don’t like doesn’t necessarily help you get better as much as focusing on the things that you do like. Choose someone that you actually want to write like to study — a personal writing coach, if you will.

I also suggest sticking with something that you already have a close tie to emotionally. It is these pieces that stick with us and, for many of us, what inspires us to write our own stories.

Read it through first

This one should be self explanatory, but my students often take an initial read for granted. If you choose to study a specific section or line, you won’t understand the full weight of the author’s choices if you don’t understand the entire text, so make sure to read through the entire thing first.

The homework I assign when starting to teach close reading is to have students bring a text from home. My definition of a text is very loose, so they usually bring something they are already comfortable with.

From manga to scientific journals to the back of a cereal box, if it interests them and has a good chunk of words, it counts. This also makes sure that it is something that they’ve already done at least a cursory read on.

Printing out a copy or writing directly in your book are both ways to start marking up your close reading text. Photo by Unseen Studio on Unsplash

Marking a text

When you’re ready to begin close reading a passage, it can be helpful to mark up the text with notes, comments, questions, etc. to track your thought process.

Some notes I make include:

What does the text say?

Summarize it succinctly to get the gist of what is actually in the passage. Sometimes, this looks like a single sentence, other times it might be a bullet point of details or events that happen.
What type of writing is it: definition, description, dialogue, inner monologue, factual support?

How does it say it?

I’ll highlight or circle key words or phrases that resonate with me, even if I can’t identify why yet.
Provide context along the sides; what information do I need before this for this to make sense and/or what does this connect to later on?
Identify any figurative language or rhetorical strategies that stand out.

Examining the text

Once you’ve gone through and taken a look at the piece from a reader’s perspective, it is time to start thinking like a writer.

Look for the effect it has on you

My students might write reactions like “What?! He can’t die!” at a big reveal or “I never considered this point of view” at a new piece of scientific data. They might also write things like “Why is it described as a ‘dust-infested curio’?” when coming across some interesting descriptions.

There are also those books that give you second-hand embarrassment or make you sit up straight and reread it just to make sure your brain read it correctly. And, of course, there are those that make you laugh out loud, change your opinion, or even shed some — or many — tears. (Chapter 89 of Kingdom of Ash, anyone?)

These types of effects are good indicators of places that we want to slow down and really understand what the author did to get that sort of a reaction out of us so that we can do the same for our readers.

Choose a particular lens or focus

You can also focus on something specific to learn. For example, you might choose a discussion from a story where a piece of information is dropped that becomes really important later. What made you skip over this and not even realize it? How does the author remind you of it later on? How can you get better at foreshadowing like this?

Alternatively, you can take that same discussion and examine what makes the dialogue feel more natural or loaded.

Consider what the purpose is that you are trying to accomplish in your own writing, and how does this piece help you learn to achieve that?

Dissect the “why”

Why did they write it this way?
Why did it affect you? Why do you think, feel, or do something in response?
Why does it work?

Things that you might consider looking more closely at:

imagery and figurative language use to help something resonate with you
the setting or context that surrounds the passage
language choices the author makes that could have been done in a different way to a lesser effect
prior knowledge that the reader has that adds weight to this passage
the irony of the situation or information
a revelation of some kind that causes you as the reader or a character within a text to rethink or react
any humor, or attempts at humor, and why it hit the right comedic beat (or didn’t)
embarrassment usually comes from a close connection, or feeling aligned with the character in the text
pain or loss are universal emotions that hit heavy, but they can fall flat if not presented in a way that makes it feel like a fresh wound (to character and reader)
breaking expectations or changing a trope can be something that makes a reader stop and rethink things

Now is the time to jump in and get your own hands dirty by testing out what you’ve learned from the close reading passage. Photo by Amauri Mejía on Unsplash

Next steps

Now comes the time to take your notes and findings and try to recreate them in your own style, story, or content area. One way to do this is to closely mimic the passage you are close reading and then gradually change the language and syntax until it fits your style better.

Another option is to write a single line multiple times, trying to vary the tools that you use to get the same effect of the close reading passage. Then, compare each of the attempts you made and try to see what works, what doesn’t, and how they match up to the original passage.

Either way, learning is just the first step. After you close read, how will you take that new knowledge and translate it into your own work?

So, the next time you find a piece of writing that moves you, mark it and consider why with these questions:

What is so impactful about this piece?
How did the writer achieve that impact? Vivid language, background, context, or something else?
How can you replicate that effect in your own writing?

If you’re interested in seeing some of these close reading “case studies,” sign up for my new newsletter where I pull different texts and share craft lessons I’ve learned from them.