on Fiction University:

Your favorite book is more than a great read—it’s a masterclass in writing craft.

I have a beat-up copy of Dave Duncan’s The Gilded Chain on my shelf that’s filled with notes in the margins and highlighted passages in different colors. It was my writing textbook when I was figuring out how to write and analyzing what made the books I loved work.

I loved Duncan’s prose. (Still do.) It’s smooth, clear, never draws attention to itself, but always pulls me right into the story. I studied how he structured sentences, how he handled action, how he managed dialogue without slowing the pace. I wasn’t trying to mimic him—I was trying to understand why his writing kept me turning pages long past midnight.

If you want to be a better writer, study your favorite books.

Examine authors whose work you admire, who write in a way you wish you could, and maybe even writers have styles similar to yours. You’re not trying to copy them, just analyze why what they do works so well.

Think about the aspects of writing you’re struggling with—maybe it’s how to use tags, show versus tell, point of view, too many uses of that or was. Now pick your favorite book and look for those problems in the first scene or chapter.