Reading as a Writer: The Great Adventure (part two)

by Jan Drexler

In their classic work, How to Read a Book, Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren spent more than four hundred pages instructing the dedicated student in four levels of reading. The work is comprehensive and fabulous. If you’ve never read this book, I recommend it.

The book also goes far beyond our purposes here, so with apologies to Adler and Van Doren, here is my own “How to Read a Book for Writers.”

In last month’s post, we talked about why we should read and what we should read. You can read that post here.

How we read can be even more important than Why or What we read. We want to learn how to write – how to tell a story other people will want to read – and the way we read can help us do that. According to Adler and Van Doren, there are four levels of reading:

1) Elementary Reading
2) Inspectional Reading
3) Analytical Reading
4) Syntopical Reading

Now let’s apply these levels to the writer. 

Elementary reading is what all of us do when we pick up a book to read for pleasure. We enjoy the story, get lost in the narrative, thrill in the settings, then put the book down with a sigh of pleasure at the end. 

Once you've learned the mechanics of reading, Elementary reading is reading for enjoyment. 😊 

But writers need to read some books for more than pleasure - we need to learn the writing craft from our reading. That's where the next three levels come in.

Inspectional reading is something I started doing when I was a beginning writer. Before I read the book, I would look at the number of pages. How many chapters were there? How many scenes did the author have in each chapter? Were the scenes a standard length, or did they vary? This is the first step in inspectional reading. 

The second step is to read through the book as quickly as you can. But don't be thrown off by this superficial reading! This first read-through acquaints you with the overall story before you begin to dig deeper. 

It’s a way of understanding how the writer structures their novel. All writers have a structure to their novels, and it becomes part of their writing “voice.” 

Analytical reading goes a bit deeper. This is the level of reading where many writers find themselves reading with an “editor’s eye.” Here, the reader is looking for the story “beats,” and learns to recognize the Call to Adventure, the Black Moment, and the Denouement. (There are many names for these major story parts – you might use different ones.) 

This is also the level where the writer/reader looks for other writing techniques such as how dialogue is handled, how to dribble in the backstory, how description adds to (or detracts from) the narrative. This is where the discerning writer/reader looks for examples of that elusive "show, don't tell" secret!

Analytical reading is important because this is how a writer begins to understand how “Story” works.

Story isn’t just an arbitrary formula or structure. Have you ever had the experience of reading a story that left you with a bad taste in your mouth? A book or movie that just “didn’t work?”

A writer needs to understand how to write a narrative that rings true. A book that speaks to your readers’ innate sense of Story. To do that, we need to be able to read analytically so we can see how the Story is played out in each work. The more we read, the more we understand how to do that. 

Syntopical reading is a lot easier than that term makes it sound! Reading syntopically just means that you read many books across the same topic. 

This kind of reading is useful when you want to target a certain publisher. Is writing for Love Inspired your dream? Read Love Inspired books! Get a subscription to their Readers Service so you don't miss a single title (click here if you're interested in subscribing)

Do you have a different dream publisher? Go to their website to see a list of their authors and new releases. Learn what kinds of books they publish and read as many as you can.

I also use syntopical reading when I’m trying to learn how a new genre works. In my inspectional reading, I discovered that each genre has its own style. So when I started writing historical novels, I read several books from that genre. As I read them analytically and compared them, I found that there are certain elements that are included in historical novels. I did the same with Amish novels and romance novels. 

As I branch out in my writing, I continue to read syntopically. When my editor asked if I would be willing to write a contemporary story, I read several contemporary romance books. When the cozy mystery bug bit me, I immersed myself in reading that genre.

None of these levels stand alone. The discerning writer/reader uses all four levels simultaneously. While we read this month's offerings from Love Inspired (syntopically), we're also learning how the books are structured (inspectionally discovering the publisher's guidelines) and how to dribble in our hero's backstory (analytically.) At the same time, we're enjoying a pleasurable read!

And you thought this would be work! Not at all. It's reading with a purpose.

You may find that you've been using these reading levels without even realizing it. Is that the case for you? Or is this concept completely new to you?

And for further discussion, what are you reading right now? Share what you're learning from it!

One commenter will win a copy of my newest release, Convenient Amish Proposal! 

(paper copy US only, e-book outside the US)

When Bethany Zook’s childhood friend returns to Indiana Amish country a widower, with an adorable little girl in tow, she’s willing to aid him in any way. But there’s just one thing Andrew Yoder needs—a mother for little Mari. And he seems convinced Bethany is the answer, just as she’s sure any union between them would be one strictly of convenience…

Andrew thought Bethany had married another. Now, determined to keep Mari despite his mother-in-law’s interference, he offers Bethany marriage in name only. But she’s quickly becoming more than a housekeeper and a mamm. Can he leave the past behind to claim a family of the heart?

You can order your copy here!

And in case you missed it in the Weekend Edition, I'm excited to share my new cover with you!

As the weather grows cold and the nights grow long, the cheer and warmth of the Christmas season is one thing all readers can find comfort in. This collection from bestselling Amish fiction novelists Leslie Gould, Jan Drexler, and Kate Lloyd finds the beating heart at the center of the holiday and offers three novellas that celebrate family, faith, and especially the sights and smells of a bustling holiday kitchen. 

Leslie Gould tells the story of how, in the wake of a heartbreaking loss, a young Amish woman finds unexpected comfort and hope in a yearly baking tradition surrounding the local Lancaster Christmas market. Jan Drexler offers a sweet tale of a shy Amish woman who decides to use her gift for sweets to woo a local Amish boy with her beloved Christmas cookies. And Kate Lloyd offers a heartwarming tale of a woman's unexpected discovery about the truth of her past, and the warm and welcoming Amish family table she finds herself invited to on Christmas.

Releasing September 3rd, and available for pre-order now! Order here!