How to Read Like a Writer NOTES

How to Read Like a Writer by Mike Bunn: Key Terms and Main Ideas 

•  Mikes inspiration– He found out that reading in a way, it could also make him a better writer 
• What Does It Mean to Read Like A Writer– Identifying some of the choices might arise in our writing – Examine the things you read, looking at the writerly techniques in the text 
• Goals- To carefully consider the choices the author made and the technique that he or she used. -decide whether you want to make those same choices or use those same techniques 
• How Is RLW Different From “Normal” Reading? – Figure out how the text you are reading was constructed so that you learn how to build  
• Why learn Reading Like A Writer? – it can help you understand how the process of a writing is a series of making choices – it can help you recognize important decisions you might face 
• What Should You Be Writing as You Are Reading? – highlight and underline the passage in the text its self- try to answer the following three questions on my notebook 

How to Read Like a Writer: Analysis 

After reading  How to Read like a Writer by Mike Bunn, I realized I don’t ask myself enough questions when reading, and I honestly don’t annotate nearly enough as I should. I’ve often been accustomed to casually reading, with no other thought than the acceptance of what’s in front of me. Reading like a writer isn’t just accepting, it’s questioning to better understand the text. It’s taking what is learned and then applying it to our own works and after reading I have a better understanding of what “reading like a writer” is and will work towards making this tactic a common thought process while reading anything from now on. Taking notice of new and different techniques of the texts I read will help me when I write works of my own. Reading like a writer will make me think more about the decisions I make as a writer as well as the decisions other writers make in their own works. It will certainly open my mind more and will lead to a more enjoyable reading experience. 

How to Read Like a Writer: Commentary 

In How to Read Like a Writer, I learned how to properly read educational pieces of literature.  Mark Bunn takes his readers step-by step in his process of analyzing literature, including its purpose, genre, type, context, and language.  Throughout the essay, he describes how one might analyze such things, and in the last couple of sections, he gave good solid examples by analyzing his own work. He encourages his readers to think about how they might improve pieces of literature, and rather that would be an improvement for someone with higher standards than the reader. He mentioned that readers must ask plenty of questions, though there are no correct questions that are versatile enough to apply to every piece of literature. He finally concluded the essay by trying to encourage his readers to go out into the world and read like a writer in whatever they   

Cite: Mike Bunn (2017) How to Read Like a Writer This Essay is a chapter in Writing Spaces: Reading On Writing, Volume 2 a peer revied open textbook series for thenwriting class room. http://writingspace.org/essays