Writing Through Copywork
Published: 2026 May 04
Recently I have started engaging in 'copywork' exercises in hopes it will improve my writing. Below is a log of my exercises and progress.
Exercises
Exercise Level 0:
- make notes of passages you admire for inspiration and study
Exercise Level 1:
- simply read and copy a passage word for word exactly.
Exercise Level 2
- carefully read a written work twice
- Try to reproduce it word for word, including punctuation purely by memory
Exercise Level 3:
- Read written work
- Make notes of each sentence
- Look at notes and try to replicate essay in your own words. (Sometimes jumble the notes for added difficulty)
- compare new version to the original
- revise and improve new version
Inspiration
I'm going to start by collecting and reading a series of books and writers I hope will inspire me from fiction and non-fiction sources:
Poems:
Novelletes:
- Two Men Arrive in A Village - Zadie Smith (Read)
- How to become a Writer - Lorrie Moore (Read)
Novellas:
Novels:
- Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
- The Cipher - Kathe Koja
- Steal Like an Artist - Austin Kleon