One of may favourite ways to grow my writing abilities and enhance my fictional worlds is by reading other books. By opening myself up to other worlds, characters, ideas, and writing styles, I have been able to learn so much about writing, and how to improve my own.

Now I know what you might be thinking ‘That sounds too close to stealing for me…’ And I completely understand. It certainly can sound like that, and it can be if you aren’t careful and respectful.

However, for the most part, I also believe in the saying ‘there is nothing new under the sun’. Currently, there are tons of writers out there, all creating amazing and unique stories, but many of them will use similar, if not the same tropes, themes, character archetypes, challenges, and more. That doesn’t mean they aren’t still valuable.

Personally, when I find a book that I really love, I absolutely want to read ten more just like it! It’s why fantasy and especially ‘romantasy’ have become such huge genres! People love reading about similar works, and I am one of them!

Now this is not a licence to go out and plagiarise books because you liked them – please don’t do that. But if you liked certain aspects of those books, and you can reinvent them in ways that are unique to your world, then go for it! Honestly, you’re probably making your life easier this way because there is already going to be a huge group of people out there who will enjoy your work.

So how can you read like a writer? Here are some tips that I’ve learned over the years and use myself.

What did you like/not like about the book?

Starting off broadly, you want to get a general idea of what parts of the story hooked you in so thoroughly.

Characters

• Did they have gripping personalities, funny quips, interesting quirks, or cool backstories?
• What decisions did they make throughout the story? Did you agree with their choices? Why or why not?
• Would you like to be their friend?
• Did you find them compelling?
• Did they seem fleshed out? Why or why not?
• Was the main character your favourite, or another side character?

World

• What was your favourite part of the world the author created? Why did you love it? was it silly, unique, interesting, new?
• What were some little tidbits the author weaved into the story that you enjoyed or wanted to know more about?
• Were there any moments or ideas that you didn’t like? What did you find unrealistic?
• Was there a particular idea or element that caught your imagination (a weapon, piece of tech, a landmark, a fictional game, a cultural holiday or practice)?
• What else would you like to know about the world if you could learn more?

Storyline

• Did the story seem coherent?
• Was it fast or slow-paced?
• Did the story make sense for the characters?
• Was it a character-driven story, or more plot-driven?
• What were the high-stakes moments you enjoyed? What about the low-stakes moments?
• Were the character interactions compelling? Why, why not?

Once you have decided what you liked about the book and what you didn’t, you will have a mini-list of concepts that you can reuse in different ways for your own story.

For example, my lists looked like this:

Likes:

• complex characters that don’t necessarily make the ‘right’ choices, but decide in a ‘doomed by their character’ kind of way (they can’t escape who they are)
• huge fantasy worlds with intricate backstories, difficult histories, diverse characters!
• unique magic systems! – I like the way that anyone can learn magic, but it is not always considered a good thing, practitioners are feared because of the drawbacks of magical use
• mythical creatures and magical pets, funny relations, but also leaning into the wildness of them as beasts

DISLIKES:

• heavy romance that detracts from the overall story
• incompetent characters – I hate when characters are described as super intelligent or powerful, without ever showing those abilities. If a character is said to be something, they have to show it! Even if the MC has to lose something. Writers should be fair to all the characters. Consider their resources, consider what they can feasibly do and learn in timeframes.
• lack of relationships in these worlds – royal characters should have tons of people around them. to do lots of things for them! In the same vein, don’t have characters be loners all the time! Let characters do amazing things with their parents and friends supporting them!
• worlds that aren’t fleshed out – I personally love intricate worlds with fascinating systems and rules. It can be a chore to get through, but I struggle to read books that either don’t consider things on a wider scale (e.g. how might surrounding countries react to the policies that the main character is experiencing) or that mention little facts and never expand upon them. For instance, the prequel era of Star Wars is my favourite, because it showed the rich Republic system. Andor has also been amazing in revealing what living in the Empire was like – but I digress!

How can I use these likes and dislikes to write a world and characters that I love?

Once you have an idea of what you do and don’t want in your story, you can apply those items almost like criteria to measure your story against.

For example, while creating my first fictional world, I liked the idea of multiple lands that each had distinct themes and ways of life. This evolved into six major countries in the continent with long histories and prominent figures from each.

It also kept me in check while I was writing my fictional characters, as I had to make sure that the characters were making their choices according to their own personality, even if I didn’t like it. It also meant that I kept my powerful characters powerful, and didn’t write them as incompetent or out of character in any way – even if it meant my characters had to take some heavy hits along the way.

So there you have it…

These questions should help guide you to be more critical of what you’re reading, so you can identify the elements that work for you. It also helps you to see what isn’t working for you, so you can ensure that you don’t include those ideas in your story.

Once again, I want to remind you to be careful. Don’t copy other people’s ideas – they have worked incredibly hard to create that, so don’t abuse that. Reinvent the things you love in ways that you love, to create a story that is amazing and yours!

It’s also important to remember that everyone’s opinions are going to be subjective, so even if you create a story, world, and characters that you absolutely adore, there will be people out there who don’t enjoy it – and that’s okay! Just as you had things you didn’t like in other stories, they might find those things in yours.

On the flip side, there will also be those who do love your story, and who will enjoy the hard work you put into creating something they will love too!

Let me know what books you’ve read that have inspired your own writing, I’d love to hear about it.