Reading Like a Writer Francine Prose Two: Words

1. Reading Like a WriterFrancine ProseTwo: Words Merritt Harris Summer Reading AP Lit

2. When Reading or Writing.. • “It’s essential to slow down and read every word” (Prose 15). • DO NOT “lose sight of the fact that words are the raw material out of which literature is crafted” (Prose 16). • Being a good writer depends on the skill and capability of choosing the right words. • “Always ask yourself, what information is the word trying to convey?” (Prose 16).

3. Authors use words.. • Authors use words to try and reduce our mind to one simple fact, or enlarge it to think of the whole picture simply by the word choices in a novel. • Example: • “Moby Dick’s first sentence, “Call me Ishmael” makes us feel that the author is in control, so he chose those words to make us understand his authority to draw us into the story quickly” (Prose 17).

4. Word Choices.. • Word choices make a huge difference in the significance of a sentence. • Example: • If an author wrote, “She was seizing every chance”, it would have a stronger impact on the reader verses if the author wrote, “She was taking every chance”, because the word seize grabs the readers attention (Prose 18).

5. Author’s Style.. • Author’s style such as diction uses words to help the reader with information on the book such as the setting. • When characters of a novel “cuss, have bad grammar, or speak properly it is the author’s attempt to describe the characters personality or show the reader what region the book is reflecting” (Prose 18).

6. Word Usage.. • Certain words used at the beginning of a sentence are placed to assist the reader into the next paragraph smoothly. • Words are used to hint what “narration is about to be used next, such as “you” or “I” (Prose 20). • Specific words are used in a work to strike up emotion in the reader.

7. When going through a sentence.. • Read word for word and try to break the sentence down. • Try to understand “why the author uses verbs, adverbs, prepositions, etc. within the sentence” (Prose 22). • Ask Yourself: Why does the author choose the word choices he does?

8. Spontaneous Writers? I think not. • REMEMBER: “Author’s are not spontaneous” (Prose 23). • “Author’s go through and write words, delete words, recalculate words, and replace words with even better words, until they feel the paragraph is perfect” (Prose 23). • Author’s also try to “balance out their word choices” (Prose 25).

9. Things to look for.. • Look for reasons why the author choses “plain words, or why the author looks for complex words and what is the underlying meaning or significance for the word choice” (Prose 24). • Why does the “author use dramatic words, or blunt words” (Prose 25)? • “Look out for the parts of speech that the words represent” (Prose 29). • “Look for the tone of words” (Prose 30).

10. Words help readers to.. • “Foresee future events in the story” (Prose 31). • “Words will help convince you of the true personalities and identities of the characters by the things they say and the tone they say it in” (Prose 32).

11. Lastly.. • REMEMBER: “Every page was once blank and every word on that page did not use to be there” (Prose 16). • Always make sure to read every word and “never skip or overlook the spaces between the words” (Prose 19). • “Individual words will give you all the information you need” (Prose 26).

12. Bibliography Prose, Francine. Reading like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. Print.