You know, I love learning this craft, but at the same time it's ruined me as a reader. Now when I read a book and come across something like a character flaw or a macguffin plot device, I stop reading and my head thinks 'ok, this is the author establishing the character, keep that in mind and notice how smoothly the author does it'. Or I'll stop reading to grab a post-it note and write on that and stick it in the page to go back to later. ARRRAGH. I blame those darn How-To books I'm trying to soak up and articles like these I'm always reading.
