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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25558
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Forget looking for your list among the bookstores and libraries. They contain legions of pretty book covers, but within those covers hides the full spectrum of writing qualities.

Look instead within the books you have already read. Think back across your history of reading and try to remember the times when an author brought you to tears or made you laugh. Go find those books (even if you have to buy them again) and find the sections which touched you. Then read backwards through that work until you find the point where the author's spell began.

Very rarely does a single paragraph or phrase snare a reader's soul. When we think of the phrase "well written", we tend to think of good grammar, sympathetic characters and catchy dialogue as the necessary components. They are all important to one degree or another, but the real magic of great writing is more complicated than any of that. It is a process in which the author earns the reader's trust, then uses that trust to take them on a journey which is more than just words on a page.

If you have even one book in your reading history, which has demonstrated that kind of artistry, then your list is as long as it has to be. Go back to that great novel, and study it until you learn how the magic is done. With that knowledge properly understood, you will finally have something worth mimicking.

One trick that I have found helpful is to read with a pen nearby. When an author does something right during my nightly reading time, I make note of it. After I am done for the night, I go back and scribble some notes either in the appropriate page's margin or on a separate piece of paper. Then when I am done with a book, I add it to my reading journal. I make note of its strengths and weaknesses, focusing on its style and structure more than on its story line. I also leave some blank space after those notes so that as the memory of the book matures in my mind, I can come back and add further comments. It is amazing how a lousy read sometimes sticks my memory and slowly convinces me that I actually liked and enjoyed it. Whenever that happens, I always take notes on such special magic.

Finally, even garbage/pulp, genre-slop fiction can contain note-worthy gems. If you limit your reading list to only the highest quality material, you will miss out on the many wonderful lessons which are hidden in the dregs.

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