ten bad pages The craft of writing. Obtained via strikethrough.
A legal-pad cover: Read Like a Writer. How to notice how a story works, not just what happens. $7

Read Like a Writer

A Ten Bad Pages Creative Writing Guide

$7

How to stop reading only for what happens, start noticing how a story works, and bring something useful to class.

Read the story first. Then go back and find out how it got you.

So, you have to read for class.

You already know how to read a story. You follow the action, form opinions about the people and stay up too late to find out what happens. A creative writing class asks for one more thing: figure out how the writer made you do all that.

Read Like a Writer shows you how without turning every story into homework. Read once for the experience, go back for the choices, and mark only what you’ll understand two days later. One short scene runs through the guide, and you take it apart piece by piece: the opening, the dialogue, the point of view, the details and the order the reader learns things.

It works with whatever your professor assigns. Follow your professor’s response format, and your professor’s AI policy always wins.

What's inside

  • Read twice

    A first pass for the experience, a second to find the choices behind it, and four marks that are all the annotation you need.

  • Find the choice

    Openings, dialogue, point of view, detail, rhythm and structure, each tried out on the same short scene.

  • Bring it to class

    Turn a reaction into a claim you can back up with the text, then borrow the technique for your own pages without copying the story.

  • AI, honestly

    Do your own reading first, then ask a tool to challenge it, and check every quotation it hands back.

Look inside

  • The page on reading a story twice: a first pass for the experience, a second to find the choices, and four marks that are enough.
    Read Twice. Mark Less.
  • The short scene the guide takes apart, with questions about what you inferred from it.
    A Scene to Take Apart
  • The point-of-view page: what changes when the viewpoint changes, and what to mark in a story.
    Point of View Chooses the World
  • The page on preparing for discussion: three things to prepare and four steps to a claim you can defend.
    Bring Something Useful to Class
  • The AI page: a sensible order for using it, and how to check what it gives you.
    AI Isn’t Your Reading Assignment
  • The one-page cheat sheet: first pass, second pass, turning a reaction into a claim, and what to bring to class.
    The Read Like a Writer Cheat Sheet

Inside the guide

  • How to read a story twice without turning it into homework
  • Four marks that are enough, and what useful notes look like
  • One short scene, taken apart from its opening to its structure
  • Dialogue, point of view, detail and rhythm, with a short exercise for each
  • How to turn a reaction into a claim you can back up
  • What to bring to class discussion
  • How to borrow a technique without copying the story
  • Using AI to challenge your reading, not replace it
  • A four-step method for any assigned story
  • The Read Like a Writer Cheat Sheet, one page to bring to class
  • Printable PDF, 16 pages

Purchase includes one printable PDF. It’s a guide, not a fillable workbook: the exercises go in your notebook or writing app.

Download right after checkout, and we email you the links too — they work for 30 days. Lose them? Email [email protected] and we'll send more. Not what you expected? Reply to your receipt within 30 days and we'll refund it.