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

Referring to the limitations of a creative writing workshop, Prose argues that “though it also doles out praise, the workshop most often focuses on what a writer has done wrong, what needs to be fixed, cut, or augmented” (17). Use your own experience in a writing workshop or an interview with a workshop student to argue for or against Prose’s statement.

1.  Choose an original work you have written. This could be a work of fiction, nonfiction, or a class assignment. Apply Prose’s principles of close reading to it and change your word choices accordingly. Compare the new draft with the original and analyze the ways in which the two differ. 

Read the following quote from the text:

“You can assume that if a writer’s work has survived for centuries, there are reasons why this is so, explanations that have nothing to do with a conspiracy of academics plotting to resuscitate a zombie army of dead white males” (22).

Do you agree with Prose’s statement? Consider whether broader themes being universal means that all manifestations of that theme are universal.

Prose argues that some writing rules are more relevant than others. What is a widely repeated rule of writing that you find redundant or inhibiting and why? In contrast, what is a rule you think helps or has helped your writing?

Prose’s book is based on the premise that creative writing can, indeed, be taught. Can creative writing be taught? How would you answer this question?

According to Prose, “a beautiful sentence is a beautiful sentence, regardless of when it was written, or whether it appears in a play or a magazine article” (43). Can you list five beautiful or memorable sentences that have stayed with you from your reading across books and the Internet? What about these sentences makes them beautiful? Do the word choices create shared sounds that evoke a certain sensation? Does the sentence have internal rhythm or otherwise use structure to its advantage?

Prose says there are certain favorite writers, such as Jane Austen and Franz Kafka, to whose work she always returns. Which writer’s work has a similar effect on you? Introduce the author and explain why their work appeals to you.

Prose often refers to stories by Russian writers such as Anton Chekov, Nikolai Gogol, and Isaac Babel. Research and analyze developments in the short story genre in Russian literature between 1840 and 1930.