Read Like A Writer

There are two ways to learn how to write fiction: by reading it and by writing it. Yes, you can learn lots about writing stories in workshops, in writing classes and writing groups, at writers' conferences. You can learn technique and process by reading the dozens of books like this one on fiction writing and by reading articles in writers' magazines. But the best teachers of fiction are the great works of fiction themselves. You can learn more about the structure of a short story by reading Anton Chekhov's 'Heartache' than you can in a semester of Creative Writing 101. If you read like a writer, that is, which means you have to read everything twice, at least. When you read a story or novel the first time, just let it happen. Enjoy the journey. When you've finished, you know where the story took you, and now you can go back and reread, and this time notice how the writer reached that destination. Notice the choices he made at each chapter, each sentence, each word. (Every word is a choice.) You see now how the transitions work, how a character gets across a room. All this time you're learning. You loved the central character in the story, and now you can see how the writer presented the character and rendered her worthy of your love and attention. The first reading is creative—you collaborate with the writer in making the story. The second reading is critical.


John Dufresne, from his book, The Lie That Tells A Truth: A Guide to Writing Fiction

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Tuesday, October 18, 2016

The American Short Story: A Study of the Influence of Locality in Its Development by Elias Lieberman (1912)

 


INTRODUCTION

Never before in the history of our literature has there been so great a demand for fiction. The general literacy of our people through a system of free education has created a great reading public. Whether the cause of the demand for fiction on their part is a desire to escape from the humdrum cares of life, or a tendency to follow an intellectual line of least resistance, or an effort to batten an imagination starved by a narrow industrialism or commercialism, the fact remains that works of fic- tion are a very desirable commodity. The fiction worker, the author, who meets this call for his wares is constantly searching for new ma- terial. The public is ever hungry and he must ever feed. His stock-in-trade must be constantly replenished. He draws from his own experiences mainly, if he wishes the stories he writes to be life- like and true. Seldom does he stray far afield because he feels that he can not give his work the convincing touches it needs without a profound first hand knowledge of his subject matter.

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The American Short Story: A Study of the Influence of Locality in Its Development.
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