# Break down a writer's style so I can learn from it

Analyzes a passage's sentence-level technique, voice, and structure, then turns the best techniques into exercises for your own writing.

- Topic: Creative Writing
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Advanced
- Tags: Write, Analyze, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/break-down-a-writer-s-style-so-i-can-learn-from-it

## Prompt

```text
Analyze the writing style of the passage below so I can learn the techniques behind it.

**Passage:** [PASTE - a chapter, scene, or a few pages]
**What I write:** [genre and form - e.g. "fantasy novel", "personal essays"]
**What I want to learn from it:** [e.g. "how it builds tension", "the voice", "dialogue rhythm"]

Break it down into:
1. **Voice and tone:** how the narrator sounds and what creates that impression.
2. **Sentence-level technique:** sentence length and rhythm, syntax patterns, point of view and narrative distance, tense, word choice, imagery, and the balance of dialogue, action, and narration. Quote a short example for each point and explain the effect it creates.
3. **Characterization:** how each character is introduced and revealed (action, dialogue, detail, others' reactions).
4. **Genre conventions and tropes:** which ones are used and whether they're played straight or subverted.
5. **Structure and pacing:** how the passage moves - beats, reveals, where it speeds up or slows down, and how it opens and ends.

Then give me:
- The 3 techniques most worth borrowing for what I write, and when they would not suit my work.
- 3 short practice exercises using those techniques with my own characters or subject, each with a clear goal and a length (e.g. "300 words").
- One common mistake writers make when trying to copy this kind of style.

Quote only short snippets for analysis. Help me learn the techniques; do not imitate the author's text closely or produce writing meant to pass as theirs.
```

## What to fill in

- PASTE - a chapter, scene, or a few pages
- genre and form - e.g. "fantasy novel", "personal essays"
- e.g. "how it builds tension", "the voice", "dialogue rhythm"

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.