I find that when I start reading, noticing how another person writes, in my case, another teen dystopian novel, I ask how does this author do it. What mechanics of world creation does she use? And then I ask how I bring about those elements in my work. To use Orwell's example, we know nothing or dubious information about the countries around the one which the narrator lives in. Sometimes authors set the book on countries in Earth after the apocalypse. At times, it's an entire new map altogether.
What I'm trying to say is, when I read another book, not too studiously, not noticing every word, just the bigger things (as those are the things in my mind at the moment), that is writing too. It sparks something which sends me writing. It is not just about sitting with an open laptop but an active questioning, deliberate process.
Now of course, if I read books in other genres, they still improve my vocab and help with writing dexterity but that's not what i'm looking for now. I want to study theme, plot, setting, how they all weave in and weave out of the story. For that, very specific books are working for me.
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