As I live with severe ME/CFS it’s near impossible for me to read a full book. But I do read snippets, usually in five minute increments, and make sure to annotate passages that stand out in my Kindle so I can go back and study the passage later, during another five minute sessions. I often use those passages to study style, I find that the easiest to study. I do wish I had more energy to get through entire books so I can study plot, as well as for general research/knowledge purposes. I am writing a memoir with themes of stigma, grief and creativity in the context of chronic illness and I really want to do more research on those themes, but with this brain as it is right now it’s just not possible. Hoping for better brain days. And thank you for sharing your process, I find that very helpful!
Good luck, though it sounds like you are systematic and methodical enough to make it all work. Speaking of, can I ask how you "study"? I am curious about the practical, nuts and bolts way other writers use reading to develop their craft.
So I’ll take a passage I intuitively like and I might even write it out a couple of times. Then I look at why they chose the words they did. I might even take a sentence snd copy thr structure but put in my own words so I learn. Hope that makes sense,
Madellleine described it very well! I do think keeping a common place book of sentences you like--and physically retyping them--is a really great practice, and a way to learn a lot.
This was true for me for a long time. Now I can read much more, but I remember those days where reading was very limited as hard ones. Are audio books more manageable or not? (Some people like them; I find them hard, as audio processing is one of my weak spots.)
So when I wrote my memoir, I read lota of memoir. I was looking for how much detail was put into memory, in the retelling to make it vivid. I found myself incredulous or intimidated, wondering how anyone could remember with such profligate detail. The Liars Club in specific made me feel this way. When I focused in on a memory, the details seemed to float away. So I made this a premise and explored the nature of the lacunae themselves. I also read for organization and how writers made their memories artistically relevant...like Joan Wickershams the Suicide Index am interested in how practically a writer uses sentences from a book (as you mentioned) that do something craft-wise they admire without it sticking out as someone else's voice...
You should read Alice McDermott’s “Remembrance of Things That Never Happened: The Art of Memoir, the Art of Fiction.” it is an essay in her craft book, “What about the Baby.”
I'm still thinking on your idea that when we're in pain, we desire intimacy. I haven't read _Small Rain_ yet but will now certainly pick up because I want to explore that connection more. So thank you for that!
And also, since you're into that Audre Lorde essay, you may want to pick up The Cancer Journals if you haven't already read it. She plugs the speech in there in a way that I think is very beautiful and generous.
Really enjoyed reading this! Just wanted to point out a little typo on the word “project” in your “Also reading:” paragraph. It currently says “proejct”
As I live with severe ME/CFS it’s near impossible for me to read a full book. But I do read snippets, usually in five minute increments, and make sure to annotate passages that stand out in my Kindle so I can go back and study the passage later, during another five minute sessions. I often use those passages to study style, I find that the easiest to study. I do wish I had more energy to get through entire books so I can study plot, as well as for general research/knowledge purposes. I am writing a memoir with themes of stigma, grief and creativity in the context of chronic illness and I really want to do more research on those themes, but with this brain as it is right now it’s just not possible. Hoping for better brain days. And thank you for sharing your process, I find that very helpful!
Good luck, though it sounds like you are systematic and methodical enough to make it all work. Speaking of, can I ask how you "study"? I am curious about the practical, nuts and bolts way other writers use reading to develop their craft.
So I’ll take a passage I intuitively like and I might even write it out a couple of times. Then I look at why they chose the words they did. I might even take a sentence snd copy thr structure but put in my own words so I learn. Hope that makes sense,
It does. Now that this topic of reading to write has been broached, i find myself thinking what the practicalities are.
Madellleine described it very well! I do think keeping a common place book of sentences you like--and physically retyping them--is a really great practice, and a way to learn a lot.
This was true for me for a long time. Now I can read much more, but I remember those days where reading was very limited as hard ones. Are audio books more manageable or not? (Some people like them; I find them hard, as audio processing is one of my weak spots.)
So when I wrote my memoir, I read lota of memoir. I was looking for how much detail was put into memory, in the retelling to make it vivid. I found myself incredulous or intimidated, wondering how anyone could remember with such profligate detail. The Liars Club in specific made me feel this way. When I focused in on a memory, the details seemed to float away. So I made this a premise and explored the nature of the lacunae themselves. I also read for organization and how writers made their memories artistically relevant...like Joan Wickershams the Suicide Index am interested in how practically a writer uses sentences from a book (as you mentioned) that do something craft-wise they admire without it sticking out as someone else's voice...
You should read Alice McDermott’s “Remembrance of Things That Never Happened: The Art of Memoir, the Art of Fiction.” it is an essay in her craft book, “What about the Baby.”
Oh, that sounds good
I'm still thinking on your idea that when we're in pain, we desire intimacy. I haven't read _Small Rain_ yet but will now certainly pick up because I want to explore that connection more. So thank you for that!
And also, since you're into that Audre Lorde essay, you may want to pick up The Cancer Journals if you haven't already read it. She plugs the speech in there in a way that I think is very beautiful and generous.
Really enjoyed reading this! Just wanted to point out a little typo on the word “project” in your “Also reading:” paragraph. It currently says “proejct”