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Reading Like A Writer: Unlocking the Secrets of Great Writing

March 27, 2025
Reading Like a Writer:
Unlocking the secrets of Great Writing

— a podcast episode —

What is reading like a writer?
To read like a writer means looking past the story to study how it was built. After the first read for pleasure, you revisit the text to examine structure, pacing, dialogue, and emotional beats. It’s about learning how great writing works so you can use those tools in your own.

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Table Of Contents Formatted and Edited Transcript Talk to Us! Share This Resource

Great writing feels like magic—but it’s not. In this engaging and practical episode, Brad Reed breaks down exactly how to read like a writer so you can start uncovering the techniques hidden beneath the surface of great stories. Whether you’re working on your first draft or stuck in revision, learning to read like a writer can transform how you approach your work.

Key takeaways include:

  • Why reading a great book once is never enough
  • How to mark up a book without losing its magic
  • Techniques for identifying emotional beats, tension, and pacing
  • Why studying bad books can teach you just as much as great ones
  • Exercises like rewriting movie scenes or copying chapters word-for-word
  • How to build your personal “touchstone books” list that grows with your writing journey

You’ll also hear about Brad’s favorite books for studying craft and how he uses them to solve real writing problems. Whether you’re looking to deepen your prose or get unstuck in your current project, this episode is a practical guide to improving your writing through intentional, curious reading.

Check out the full episode, and if you’re ready to go deeper, visit the How to Write a Novel page for more resources and writing challenges.

Formatted and Edited Transcript

Today we’re talking about an essential skill for any writer: the ability to read like a writer. And to help explain how that works, we’re going to use magicians as our working metaphor. So let’s dive in.

The Magician Metaphor

When I was a kid—maybe eight or nine years old—I remember going to the county fair and seeing a magician on stage. It’s one of the earliest memories I have of watching someone attempt a magic trick. I don’t even know if he was good or not, but I remember being blown away by what this person could do.

That’s the metaphor I want to use today as we talk about how to read like a writer. So let’s build it out a little.

If I had wanted to become a magician at that moment, inspired by what I saw, what would I have actually learned just by watching him perform? Well, almost nothing. Especially at eight or nine years old. I might’ve picked up a little about stage presence or how a magician dresses, but not much more than that. There’s no way I could’ve turned around and performed those tricks myself.

Great Writing Is Like Great Magic

Have you ever finished a book and thought, “Holy cow, that was incredible—and I have no idea how the author pulled it off”? That’s what great writing can feel like. It’s like watching a magician and having no clue how the illusion was done.

As writers, we often come across books that inspire us like that, and we think, “I want to figure out how they did this.” But if we approach that book the way I approached the magician as a kid—just sitting in awe—we won’t learn very much. That’s the paradox of trying to read like a writer.

Great writing is invisible on the first read. Just like a good magician hides all the sleight of hand and behind-the-scenes tricks, a skilled writer hides the techniques that make a story work. You’re not supposed to notice the structure or the craft on that first read. You’re supposed to get pulled in, to forget you’re even sitting in a chair in the real world. That’s what good writing does.

If a book is poorly written, it’s easier to see the structure and the flaws. But today we’re focusing on how to study great writing.

Rule #1: You Don’t Read It Just Once

The first rule of reading like a writer is that you don’t read the book just once. It’s something you return to again and again with new questions, new curiosities, and new goals.

I have three books that I come back to constantly. There are others I read like a writer, but these three are the ones I pull apart, ask questions about, and even rewrite sections from to figure out how the author made the magic happen.

Just like the best way to become a magician is to take apart the illusions you admire and maybe adapt them with your own style, the best way to learn storytelling is by studying the books that first swept you away—and then picking them apart.

Does It Kill the Magic?

When I first started doing this, I worried that studying a book too closely would kill the magic. You’ve probably seen behind-the-scenes videos about how magic tricks are done—and afterward, they’re just not as magical anymore.

But with writing, I found the opposite to be true. The deeper I dig into a great book, the more I admire the creativity, voice, and ingenuity of the author. Instead of ruining the magic, it deepens my appreciation for it.

So unlike magic tricks, which lose their power when exposed, the magic in writing gets stronger the more you study it.

Step One: The First Read Is for Pleasure

Once you’ve chosen a book that felt magical when you first read it, your job on that first reread is simple: just read it for pleasure. Don’t analyze. Don’t study. Don’t think like a writer.

But—buy a physical copy you can destroy.

This is my most controversial opinion, and I know some of you will be horrified: books are not sacred. They are consumables. Especially paperbacks. They’re meant to be read, underlined, dog-eared, and even torn apart if needed. And if you destroy one, there’s always another copy out there.

In my creative writing class, we do found poems using ripped-out book pages from library discards that were headed for recycling anyway. Some students are horrified by the idea of tearing up a book. I get it—but for the purposes of learning, the physical book needs to become a tool, not a treasure.

So on this first read, mark things that hit you emotionally. Highlight lines that stand out. Use sticky notes or highlighters to mark anything that makes you pause or smile or cry or laugh.

You’re not analyzing it yet—you’re just marking the spots that made you feel something.

Step Two: The Second Read Is for Study

Now you’ve finished your first read. You’ve highlighted, underlined, and left sticky notes all over the place. That book is officially destroyed. Perfect.

The second read is where you start reading like a writer. This is where you approach the book with curiosity—just like that 8- or 9-year-old kid watching the magician and wondering, “How did they do that?”

Revisit all those highlighted sections and try to reverse-engineer what the author was doing. Your job is to figure out what’s happening behind the scenes. The big word to keep in mind is curiosity.

Studying the Beats

As you go through the book again, pay attention to the beats in each scene. If that’s a new term for you, a “beat” is a moment of subtle change: an emotion shifts, a realization occurs, something small (or big, like an inciting incident) happens. Think of beats as the heartbeat of your story.

Without beats, the story flatlines. There’s no life in it. Even the smallest shift—like a character going from suspicion to anger—keeps the scene alive.

Look for:

  • Emotional shifts
  • Turning points in scenes
  • Subtle (or major) changes in action or character
  • The structure of tension

You’re identifying how the author builds tension, leaves mysteries, or reveals character through subtext. How are they moving the reader from one scene to the next? What tricks are they using to make it impossible to put the book down?

Looking at Mystery, Subtext, and Pacing

As you reverse-engineer scenes, ask yourself:

Let your curiosity guide which of these questions you explore. Your focus may shift depending on what you’re currently working on in your own writing.

If a scene made you tense, excited, or afraid, look at how it was structured. Are the sentences shorter? Is the language tighter? These techniques are often hiding in plain sight.

You’ll Need More Than Two Reads

One read won’t be enough. Some moments you’ll skim. Others you’ll study again and again. The book becomes a touchstone—something you’ll revisit for years with new questions.

When I was writing Crossing Cascadia, I returned to my core books constantly. Not to copy them, but to see how other writers tackled the exact problems I was facing:

I learned different things every time I returned.

What About Bad Books?

We’ve talked a lot about learning from great books, but there’s also real value in studying awful books.

Bad writing teaches us what not to do—and often it’s much easier to see why something doesn’t work. When a book falls flat, ask:

My favorite “bad” book to study is Fifty Shades of Grey. Seriously. It’s not well written (in my opinion), but that makes the flaws really obvious. I learned a ton from it—not what to do, but what to avoid. And somehow, it was massively successful, which makes it even more fascinating to break apart.

If the ending of a bad book felt unsatisfying, ask why. Was it the stakes? Was the protagonist too passive? This kind of curiosity can teach you as much as studying literary masterpieces.

Studying Other Media

So far, we’ve focused on books—but storytelling exists in many forms, and reading like a writer doesn’t have to stop with novels. Great writers pull techniques from everywhere: screenplays, movies, plays, even news stories.

Alan Heathcock, in a previous episode, talked about how good writers are always writers. They’re always learning. They’re always stealing—not plagiarizing, but absorbing techniques from all kinds of storytelling.

One of his best pieces of advice? Watch a scene from a movie you love and then write it out as if it’s part of a novel. Try to capture the mood, the pacing, the subtext. It’s a lot of work, but you’ll be amazed at how much you learn.

Extreme Exercise: Rewrite a Novel or a Screenplay

Another piece of advice I picked up—though I can’t remember where—is to rewrite an entire screenplay or novel word for word. Literally.

I did this with the screenplay for Wild, based on Cheryl Strayed’s memoir. I bought a copy of the script, sat down, and typed the entire thing into a document, word for word.

It sounds ridiculous. But what I gained from it was incredible:

  • A microscopic view of sentence structure
  • A feel for rhythm, pacing, and white space
  • Insight into how scenes were built, moment by moment

I could almost step into the writer’s head and experience their choices. And yes, now I can technically claim I’ve written the screenplay for Wild—not originally, of course, but word for word.

If that sounds extreme, it is. But sometimes we need to do the things other writers aren’t willing to do to grow our craft.

Exercises to Strengthen Your Writer’s Eye

Let’s wrap up with a few hands-on exercises that can help sharpen your skills as you continue reading like a writer:

1. Reverse Engineer a Scene
Pick a powerful scene from a book you love and break it down beat by beat. What changes in each moment? How does the author build tension? What do we learn about the characters?

I did this with The Grapes of Wrath, marking every emotional and action shift throughout the book, even mapping it chapter by chapter to understand how Steinbeck structured it.

A great place to start? Chapter one of The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins immerses readers almost instantly—try unpacking how she does it.

2. Rewrite a Scene from a Film or TV Show
Take a favorite scene from a movie or show—maybe Breaking Bad, maybe The Lord of the Rings—and write it as if it were a novel. Try to capture the mood and emotion of the scene, but also use all five senses. Film is visual and auditory. Fiction lets you go deeper.

3. Keep a Reading Journal
Even if you’re reading purely for pleasure, take a few minutes after each book to reflect:

  • What worked?
  • What didn’t?
  • What did I learn about writing?

Over time, you’ll notice patterns. You’ll discover your personal beliefs about writing and your unique voice. That was one of the most surprising things for me when I started writing—that I even had a voice. But journaling helped me find it.

Wise Words from Great Writers

Before we get to this week’s writing challenge, I want to leave you with a couple of powerful quotes about the importance of reading like a writer.

Stephen King famously said:

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.”

I agree with this almost entirely—but I’d add one thought. I don’t buy it when aspiring writers say, “I just don’t have the time to write.” I think we all have the time; we just have to choose how we use it.

And the same goes for reading. If you’re struggling to find the time to read, check out my earlier podcast episodes about finding time and finding a place to write. Those tips apply to reading, too.

William Faulkner offered another gem:

“Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad—and see how they do it.”

Absolutely. You won’t become a good magician without watching other magicians. And you won’t become a good writer unless you’re constantly reading—and learning.

Your Writing Challenge: Build Your List

This week’s challenge is simple, but powerful:

Choose at least three books that you’re going to study like your writing life depends on it.

These books may change over time, but be intentional. They don’t have to be award winners or bestsellers—though they can be. They don’t even have to be popular. But they do need to be books that felt magical to you on the first read. Books that made you say, “If I could only write like that…”

Here are my current three:

You might notice all three are road stories. That’s no accident—I consider myself a road story writer. There’s something about that structure and energy that resonates deeply with me.

So what are your books? I’d love it if you shared your list with me and with other listeners. Leave a comment below or send me an email directly at brad.reed@insidecreativewriting.com.

While you’re here, make sure to download your copy of the Story Rescue Checklist—a resource I put together for those moments when you feel stuck or uncertain in your writing. It’s packed with ways to look at your story from different angles and get unstuck.

Final Thoughts: Reading Like a Writer Is a Lifelong Habit

As we wrap up, remember this: reading critically makes you a better writer. But it takes multiple passes to really understand how a book works.

We’re like magicians, studying every angle of the trick. Taking things apart. Asking how. Until one day, our readers are the ones leaning back and saying, “Wow. I have no idea how they did that.”

Until next week, remember:
The best way to improve as a writer is by writing.
I hope you get some words on the page this week—I know I’ll be doing the same.

Or maybe—just maybe—I’ll give The Grapes of Wrath another read, and let Steinbeck teach me another trick or two.

Have a great week.

Talk to Us!

We’d love to hear from you! If you have a question, a comment, a suggestion, or just want to tell us about your work-in-progress, give us a shout!
info@insidecreativewriting.com

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