how to be a better reader (& writer)

the not-quite-10 best things I've ever learned about how to ingest and interpret literature

I wish I had an MFA; I probably should’ve gone to school for English literature. But alas, that demon called hindsight strikes again. Instead, I use an M.A. in international relations on a college campus, forever making me nostalgic for my own days in the slough of academia.

My credentials for this list are that these ideas didn’t originate with me. These are the snippets collected from professors, from writings on writing, from podcasts, midnight revelations, small group discussions, subway posters, and who knows where else.

They are born out of thousands of pages worth of journals in my parent’s garage and an equally high stack of books consumed over the last 2 and 1/2 decades (I was a-b-c-ing at age 3, but that doesn’t count).

They are the simplest of tools in a toolbox designed to get the job done.

You don’t need an M.A. to read like a reader and write like a writer.

May these deepen your practice of falling in love with the written word.

• Repetition is very intentional. If a word is mentioned more than 4 times on a single page, pay attention. It’s probably very, very, very important.

• Notice the room. The setting exists the way it does for a reason - the proximity of the walls, the colors, the smells, the trinkets on the dresser. What are they saying? Characters inhabit a space and time for a visual that is being created in your own mind. That matters.

• Don’t say; show. If an emotion is named that means it isn’t drawing you into the visceral experience. The character’s expression, body language, reactions, words should bring you into sentiment. Feel what they’re feeling as you watch them move through the world.

• You know unreliable narrators exist, but did you remember that they exist? Unreliable narrators are a staple of literature (bonus points if he’s named Richard). Knowing that this may be the case and paying attention to how it may be the case are two different things. If you can’t find the person being lured and seduced by a character, it’s probably you.

• Life’s too short to read bad books. Don’t be afraid to not to finish something that isn’t worth it. Don’t be afraid to speak out against books (or your own writing!) that aren’t contributing to truth or beauty. Authors are humans - imperfect and flawed. Authors are not infallible. That being said, authors should also not to be promoted when they are inherently problematic and dehumanizing.

  • (However) Long and challenging books are not all bad. Classics are classics for a reason. Don’t give up on things that are hard. It’s not bad just because you’re confused. The things that change you, challenge you. Reading is supposed to change you.

  • (However) “Escapist” books are not all bad. Don’t be pretentious. Don’t turn a nose up at a young adult, romcom, or fantasy novel. Books can be “silly” and matter at the same time (think: disability rep in a romcom, BIPOC YA, proletariat fantasy, etc.). You’re not better than a romance reader just because you prefer Dostoevsky. In fact, it might make you misogynistic.

• Reading is political. Reading is a privilege. These thoughts deserve their own article, but suffice to say, it will make you a better reader - and writer - to remember that not everyone in the world or even your own country has access to books like you do. Don’t take that lightly. Don’t waste that gift; steward it.

• Read (write) toward what you don’t know. You’re allowed to have preferred genres, favorite writers, and stories with a gravitational pull, but don’t let yourself get stuck there. Reading can and should change you for the better, if you let it. It won’t do that without your permission.

• The author may intend something, but you’re the creator. Take what the author is trying to say, understand that as best you can, and then move past it. Take it further. What do you hear the text whispering? That is where literature truly finds it’s meaning - in what you do with it.

• You’re allowed to absorb, maybe even enjoy (in a relatable, masochistic way), a character’s pain or sorrow. You’re not allowed to romanticize it. You can revere Sylvia Plath’s writing and hold A Little Life’s Jude close to your heart, but you are not A Bell Jar’s thought daughter. Don’t mistake a message of pain for an aesthetic.

When I think about these things, I truly enjoy the books that I’m reading more. I get more out of them. They inspire my writing in deeper ways. These guiding principles allow me to engage in critical thinking and academic depth (and sure, sometimes pretension) in important, stewarding ways.

Whether reading Baldwin, Babel (RF Kuang), Brutes (Dizz Tate), or Bridgerton fanfiction (AO3 girlie 4ever), let’s make it mean something.

Also, because I’ve read multiple articles about it recently, I find it important to mention very explicitly that AI did not write this. AI was not even, and will never be, consulted on my writing. I am outspokenly against the ecological, artistic, and unjustly racialized effects of AI.

I will, however, never give up my em dash - pry it out of my cold, dead, ink stained hands.