Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them

Author Francine Prose expresses surprise that, she, a creative writing teacher for over two decades, should so often be asked if writing can be taught. The question suggests that creativity, unlike multiplication tables, is impossible to transmit from teacher to student. While Prose believes a natural gift for storytelling cannot be taught, students can certainly study and learn how to write, and on that front, the best way to learn how to write is to read.

Before creative writing programs, writers learnt how to write by paying close attention to the great works of literature. American novelist Harry Crews, for instance, has described how he dissected the works of English writer Graham Greene to understand how the latter handles pacing, point of view, and tone. The kind of reading Prose refers to is “close reading,” that is, paying attention to writing at a granular level. Prose argues that reading or absorbing a narrative word by word comes naturally to most people because that is how children read or listen to stories. As people grow up and begin to read faster, they lose touch with the art of