The best way to learn how to write is to read as many well-written books as possible. There are subtle cadences of pace and phrasing that cannot be easily taught or explained, but that will seep into you as you read, and provide your subconscious with many tools to choose from, and an array of paths for your own self-expression.
Always read with a dictionary, and look up any unfamiliar words!
3 comments:
Absolutely!!
Recommended: anything by Edith Pargeter, or under her pen name, Ellis Peters. Medieval mysteries. VERY well written.
Forget all the read-with-a-dictionary business. It will just slow you down and make you not want to read the book. You will figure out the word from context, or it will bother you until you go GET the dictionary and look it up.
Well sure, if it interrupts your flow, you may not want to sacrifice immersion for instruction! What works for me doesn't necessarily work for everyone. But in any case, the tip was meant less for those who read for pure enjoyment, and more for those who read also with intent to improve the hold of the language upon them.
I find that as I go, when I find a word I can't fit, it stops me dead. I don't want to skip past, the first thing I want to do is to call a halt, and immediately seize it, lay hold of its meaning, cool and smooth in my mind's hand like a stone.
Then proceed joyously with a new companion in tow!
I uh, read like a big fucking dork.
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