We read for delight, for insight, for thrills, and for comfort. But how do we read as writers?

The answer is—differently. Some writers read gingerly, fearful of being overwhelmed by the eloquence of others and losing confidence in their own powers. Others read savagely, looking for weaknesses that betray the inadequacies of the text and its creator. Many writers won’t read while they’re writing for fear of echoing the voice of the book they are reading. Others are afraid of finding that their own territory has already been worked over. But some writers love to read. They aren’t intimidated or inhibited by writers, whether classic or contemporary. They are inspired as their own imaginations leap up at the achievements of others.

As a writer you can read in the traditional way, giving yourself over to the fictional world, getting caught up in the characters’ lives, suffering with them, and sharing their emotions and adventures. Or you can read more analytically, trying to understand how these writers handle the problems of narration, how they make time pass, make characters memorable, or embed their own social observations. You can learn a great deal from this kind of reading. You begin to see the devices writers use to make scenes and dialogue vivid or to get into the minds of their characters, and you recognize that it is a magic you can learn yourself.