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College StanXeno bcs college is genuinely beating my ass which is why ive been so inactive fuck my stupid baka life

This is such an interesting question, and also really hard to answer.

For what it's worth, I had an AP teacher who was very good at teaching this, and then I got a four year degree in English aka learning how to read and then write about it. But that's means I've been pretty good at it for a long time, and the process by which I learned isn't necessarily super accessible.

I think you're probably on the right track here to start: you've familiarized yourself with concept, you know stuff is there, and you seek out reading about it.

There's also a lot of practice involved. Starting with writing analysis of even surface level things that you have noticed will help you articulate your thoughts clearly so you can practice thinking and writing that way, which will help your brain go down those pathways more habitually and instinctively.

(You don't have to post them online if you're embarrassed or anything, but people are capable of missing some pretty major themes in works, so people might find it a lot more insightful than you think)

Reading widely also helps, and bringing your own knowledge of stuff outside of the particular thing you're reading can also help! People who really know music can write about that in film and TV shows, for instance. One of my professors in college mentioned a prior student who had written about Dracula with the structure of a soccer game in mind (because apparently Stoker was a big fan of soccer? IDK), which he thought was super interesting. I didn't read it, so I dunno how tortured it was, but it's not something I ever would have noticed.

This is also part of why I like getting asks: people will ask me about something I hadn't really considered before and then have to think about it. It's so helpful and fun.

Another thing to consider is to pause and think about if you've seen something similar to a particular trope/plot device/moment in what you're reading, either in the same work or elsewhere, and like...make a Venn diagram or something about the similarities and differences, and think about why they're different and how they're different. So much of reading like a critic is looking for patterns.

Yes, yes, let's show that William is just as capable of ferreting out a perpetrator and bringing them to justice as the Great Detective is. Yes, yes, let's show that Sherlock is just as capable of digging up an abusive asshole and committing a Perfect Crime to murder him as William is.

And, in fact, The Two Detectives ends with William getting the upper hand on Sherlock and (via trickery) managing to catch the perpetrator where Sherlock stalled out. And in The Two Criminals, Sherlock murdered Milverton before William could even get around to pulling the trigger.

Oh, oh I love them.

these tags by @vaguely-concerned cracked me up so I had to sketch it as baby Orufrey

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