A Novelist's Reading Challenge for National Reading Month

by Francine Puckly

​Reading is one of the best ways a writer can improve one’s craft as well as stay current on the books being published each year, and March is National Reading Month! Each year I get caught up in the buzz for National Reading Month and, more recently, the ReFoReMo Challenge (Reading For Research Month) which runs throughout the month of March. Founded in 2015 by Carrie Charley Brown (and co-coordinated with Kirsti Call), it is designed to help picture book writers improve their own writing by reading and researching mentor texts. If you’re a picture book writer or illustrator, don’t miss out! (Register for the ReFoReMo Challenge.)
 
But I’m a novelist…
 
Each year I say I’m going to challenge myself to do a modified version of ReFoReMo as a novelist, but without anyone to hold me accountable, I usually fall off within the first week. So this year I’ve decided to share my weekly challenges in hopes that other novelists out there might join me in reading mentor texts. (Oh, and hold me accountable!)
 
March 4 – 8, 2019: Week #1 – The Old Standbys Week
The week’s assignments focus on your favorite novels. Any favorite novels.
 
Assignment #1:
Each day, select ten favorite novels (any audience, any genre) from your home bookshelves, local library, or bookstore. Read the first 1-2 sentences only. Each day select 2-3 novels that had the best opening lines. Next, read the first two-three pages of the novels with the best opening lines. How did each author choose to begin the story? Which specific words or turns of phrase pulled you into the story? How did the author introduce character and setting? How did the author set the emotional tone for the story?
 
Assignment #2:
At the end of the week, pick five overall “winners” for first lines and/or opening pages. Consider the entire novels. Do the novels live up to their first lines?
 
 
March 11 – 15, 2019: Week #2 – Intended Audience Week
This week’s assignments focus on writing for your intended audience, whether that’s middle grade, young adult, women’s fiction, adult fiction, etc. You can select books from any genre (SciFi, Fantasy, Contemporary, etc.).
 
Assignment #1:
Select 10-20 novels written for your intended audience and read the opening 2-3 pages for each novel. (This is easily done at your library or local bookstore. Just grab ten books from the shelves, plop down on the floor, and immerse yourself in first pages!) Assess the books with the same questions from last week: How did each author choose to begin the story? Which specific words or turns of phrase pulled you into the story? How did the author introduce character and setting? How did the author set the emotional tone for the story?
 
Assignment #2:
Read one book written for your intended audience that has been published in the last six months. How did the author set up the problem of the novel? Consider how the author built tension to the climax and notice any "resting periods" in the plot and tension. Notice the times when you just can't put the book down and notice times when you are growing tired with description or plot and are tempted to put the book down. Does the novel's ending fit with the book's promise at the beginning? Looking back, can you see how the author established the inevitable ending in the first few pages/chapters of the story? 
 
 
March 18 – 22, 2019: Week #3 – Intended Genre Week            
This week’s assignments focus on writing for your intended audience and genre (e.g. MG contemporary, YA historical, YA fantasy, etc.) 
 
Assignment #1:
Select 10-20 novels written for your intended audience and genre. Read the opening 2-3 pages for each novel. Assess the books with the same questions from prior weeks: How did each author choose to begin the story? Which specific words or turns of phrase pulled you into the story? How did the author introduce character and setting? How did the author set the emotional tone for the story?
 
Assignment #2:
Read one book written for your intended audience and genre that has been published in the last six months. 
Assess the books with the same questions from last week: How did the author set up the problem of the novel? Consider how the author built tension to the climax and notice any "resting periods" in the plot and tension. Notice the times when you just can't put the book down and notice times when you are growing tired with description or plot and are tempted to put the book down. Does the novel's ending fit with the book's promise at the beginning? Looking back, can you see how the author established the inevitable ending in the first few pages/chapters of the story? 
 
March 25 – 29, 2019: Week #4 – I’m-Too-Scared-to-Write-It Genre Week
I devour historical fiction as a reader, but I declared early on that I would never, ever write it. (Guess who has a rough first draft of a YA historical novel sitting on her computer?)
            
Assignment #1:
Select 10-20 novels written in your I’m-Too-Scared-to-Write-It genre. Read the opening 2-3 pages for each novel. Assess the books with the same questions from prior weeks: How did each author choose to begin the story? Which specific words or turns of phrase pulled you into the story? How did the author introduce character and setting? How did the author set the emotional tone for the story?
 
Assignment #2:
Read one book written in your I’m-Too-Scared-to-Write-It genre that has been published in the last six months. 
Assess the books with the same questions from the prior week: How did the author set up the problem of the novel? Consider how the author built tension to the climax and notice any "resting periods" in the plot and tension. Notice the times when you just can't put the book down and notice times when you are growing tired with description or plot and are tempted to put the book down. Does the novel's ending fit with the book's promise at the beginning? Looking back, can you see how the author established the inevitable ending in the first few pages/chapters of the story? 


It's important to read a large volume of work within and outside of our genres. Studying successful authors' writing styles can often highlight the elements we are neglecting or maybe just haven't quite polished in our own drafts yet. This is less about negative comparison ("I'll never be able to write like Kate DiCamilla!") and about absorbing how various author tease out setting, character, plot and emotional arcs, appreciating those nuances, and figuring out how to take our own writing a little bit deeper. Because as Kate DiCamilla once said, "Every well-written book is a light for me. When you write, you use other writers and their books as guides in the wilderness."

Thanks for joining me on this reading challenge! And good luck!
Francine

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