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, March 9, 2022

Free Lance Journalism by Sydney A Moseley

 

Short Story Writing And Free Lance Journalism  

by  Sydney A Moseley

 

PART 2
SHORT STORY WRITING

CHAPTER I

WHIT is a short story "The jolly art" A complete work Novelettes Sketches 113

CHAPTER II

STYLE : Three hints Short story anatomy Plot finding Three great themes Classes of story Specialization Dangers of models
What to read 121

CHAPTER III

EtaADXNO and observation Danger of plagiarism Plot construction
Blank road mystery Question and answer . . . , 133

CHAPTER IV

HAOKNBTBD situations A French example The forced situation
Don't be lazy Too bad to be true ,147


CHAPTER V 

WHAT makes a good title Openings Endings . . . . ,169

CHAPTER VI

FIRST and third person methods Cultivate your own style Colour
Local colour Use your environment Imagination . . . 168

CHAPTER VII

UNNECESSARY characters Dialogue Heroes and heroines Reality
Minor characters 180

CHAPTER VIII

LOVE scenes Some classic love scenes Strength with restraint
Avoid " piling it on " Humorous relief The pitfall of pathos
The definite aim Revising and retouching The inexorable blue
pencil Rejections and their lessons The editor's reason Fiction
fashions How to reshape old manuscripts . . .190

CHAPTER IX

SHOET story lengths Novels and novelettes How to sell manuscripts
More hints Serial short stories Serial novels Novels in book
form The commercial side of authorship Copyright American
and English rights Prices Proof correcting Letters to the editor
Literary agents A word in farewell 209

INDEX . 231
 



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 Short Story Writing And Free Lance Journalism by Sydney A Moseley

 

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