What Your Favorite Book Can Teach You About Writing

By Janice Hardy

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.

Pick a book that:

• You’ve read more than once, or could read endlessly
• Matches your genre or writing style
• Has elements you want to improve in your own writing (pacing, voice, structure, character depth)

Next, pinpoint what you’re struggling with or curious about:

• Are your scenes flat? Study how the author handles tension.
• Confused about dialogue formatting? Zoom in on their conversations.
• Unsure how much internal thought to include? Check their balance of narrative and introspection.
• Getting critique about using too many “was” verbs? Track them in a few chapters.

Highlight the aspect that you’re studying:

• Make notes of what you admire about it in the margins.
• Really look at how that author used it.

When you’re doing this, don’t just read—analyze. Break it down. Ask questions such as:

• Why does this line of dialogue feel snappy?
• What makes this description so vivid?
• How does the author transition between action and reflection?

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Use what you find as a guide for your own writing.

If you see that short, punchy sentences build tension, try them in your own scenes. If you notice your favorite author uses more internal thoughts during action scenes, experiment with layering internalization into your pacing. If you realize their dialogue tags are mostly “said” and “asked,” consider whether your fancy tags are pulling attention away from the conversation.

I used a different chapter for each issue I studied, which made it easier to keep track of what I was looking for and focus on the problem. For example, in one chapter I highlighted how many times Duncan used the word was. Seeing those yellow marks across pages and pages of text made me realize was is an often invisible word, and getting rid of it completely wasn’t the good advice I’d been told.

I did chapters on adverbs, dialogue tags, “to be” verbs. All the bits that common advice said I shouldn’t use or should use sparingly, but here was someone whose work I enjoyed who used them a lot more than I did—and it worked.

(Here’s more with What is “Bad Writing?” (And How Can WeAvoid It?))

Studying another author’s writing also helps you figure out what you like best about stories.

If your favorite scenes are dialogue heavy, you probably enjoy lots of dialogue and write scenes with lots of dialogue. But “lots of dialogue” probably isn’t why you like that scene—odds are it’s what the dialogue is doing.

Maybe it’s picking up the pace. Maybe it’s conveying action or showing worldbuilding. Maybe it’s characterizing. Until you study it, you won’t always know.

For example:

• A scene that feels tense might rely on short paragraphs, tight internal monologue, and clipped dialogue.
• A funny exchange might hinge on rhythm, timing the punchline with just the right paragraph break.
• A tender moment might weave introspection with carefully chosen beats of physical action to reveal vulnerability.

When you pinpoint these techniques, you’re uncovering the hidden gears that make the scene turn. And once you see them, you can use them yourself.

The books you love aren’t just entertainment. They’re a window into your storytelling soul. They reflect your tastes, your voice, your narrative instincts. When you take the time to study them, you’re not just learning writing craft—you’re learning your writing craft.

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Knowing what to do is never as effective as knowing why it should be done that way.

Good writing is effortless to read, which makes it harder to spot why it’s working so well. But when we study how our favorite writers do it, it becomes easier to achieve those same skills in our own work.

So grab your favorite book, a pen, and a highlighter. Start marking it up. It’s trying to teach you something.

EXERCISE FOR YOU: Take one chapter from a novel you love and read it with a highlighter in hand. Choose a single element to focus on. As you read, mark every instance where the author uses that element. Once you’ve finished, flip back through the chapter and look for patterns. How often does this technique appear? Where does it show up in the scene? What effect does it have? Jot down what you discovered, then edit a chapter of your own using what you learned.

What are your favorite authors? What about their writing do you admire?

*Originally published 2010. Last updated July 2025.

If you're looking for more to improve your craft (or a fun fantasy read), check out one of my writing books or novels:

In-depth studies in my Skill Builders series include Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means), and Understanding Show Don't Tell (And Really Getting It). My Foundations of Fiction series includes Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, a self-guided workshop for plotting a novel, and the companion Plotting Your Novel Workbook, and my Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft series, with step-by-step guides to revising a novel. 

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The Shifter, was chosen for the 2014 list of "Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read" from the Georgia Center for the Book. It was also shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize (2011), and The Truman Award (2011).

She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy.

She's the founder of Fiction University and has written multiple books on writing, including Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It), Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, and the Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft series.

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