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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Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Short Story: its Principles and Structure by Evelyn May Albright, (1907)

Short Story: its Principles and Structure by Evelyn May Albright, (1907). The aim of this book is not to trace the origin or the development of the short-story, but to set forth some standards of appreciation of what is good in storywriting, illustrating by the practice of the masters as contrasted with amateurish failures : this with the view of rousing the student to a more lively interest in his eading, and of awakening such a wholesome spirit of self-criticism as shall enable him to improve his own workmanship, should he feel called to write. It is expected that one who undertakes to study or to write short-stories will become acquainted at first hand with the masterpieces of this art. With this in view, a reading-list has been appended, roughly classified in parallel arrangement with the topics studied in the text. The list includes, besides a number of stories generally recognized as great, a fairly representative selection from recent magazines. It is the author's belief that not only the masterpiece but the story which is moderately good can be made a profitable study in construction for the beginner. But it has been the aim to lay due stress, within the text, on those elements of greatness which distinguish the masterpiece from the average short-story. 
 
I. Introductory  
II. Gathering Material 
III. The Motive as the Source op Plot 
IV. Plot 
V. Mechanism 
VI. Unity of Impression 
VII. The Title 
VIII. Characterization 
IX. Dialogue 
X. The Setting 
XI. The Realistic Movement 
XII. The Element of Fantasy 
XIII. The Emotional Element 
XIV. The Spirit of the Author


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