How to Write Great Fiction, Especially the Art of Short Story Writing : a Practical Study of Technique by Sherwin Cody, 1868-1959

 How to Write Fiction, Especially the Art of Short Story Writing : a Practical Study of Technique 

 

by Sherwin Cody, Volume 4

 1868-1959

 

 “You seem to me to work with a  of vigorous analysis and a method clearly thought out. You both teach and suggest.” — Prof. Edward Dowden to the Author.

“The book states clearly the permanent factors and qualities in imaginative literature.” — An Editor and Reviewer.

“The book seems to me replete with just the information for which I should say thousands of young writers all over the country are thirsting.” — An Eminent Novelist.

 

I. THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF SHORT STORIES

II. GENERAL OUTLINE OF METHOD OF WRITING 

III. MATERIAL FOR SHORT STORIES

IV. THE CENTRAL IDEA

V. THE SOUL OF THE STORY

VI. CHARACTER STUDY

VII. THE SETTING OF A STORY

PART SECOND

THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF FICTION

I. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SHORT STORY AND THE NOVEL

II. HOW TO OBTAIN A GOOD COMMAND OF LANGUAGE

III. NARRATIVE, DESCRIPTION, AND DIALOGUE 

IV. HARMONY OF STYLE

V. PLOT CONSTRUCTION

VI. IMAGINATION AND REALITY 

VII. THE USE OF MODELS IN WRITING FICTION

VIII. CONTRAST

IX. MOTIVE

X. WHAT MAKES A STORY WORTH TELLING

XI. HOW TO OBSERVE MEN AND WOMEN .

XII. THE TEST OF ABILITY

XIII. CONCLUSION

APPENDICES

EXAMPLES

I. THE NECKLACE

II. A STORY RE-WRITTEN

III. A SHORT HISTORY OF MODERN ENGLISH FICTION

 Most young writers imagine, when they first think of writing stories that one writes well or ill by nature, and if one does not write well in the first place, improvement is a matter of chance or the working out of inherent ability in some blind way. That the art of story writing is something that can be learned seems not yet to have suggested itself very practically to authors or critics. Yet Maupassant studied seven years with Flaubert before he began to print at all, with the result of a very obvious, skill, and this suggests the possibility that others also can learn the art. But any writer, young or old, who has gone to an acknowledged master of literature in order to get instruction, knows how little practical assistance is commonly obtained. 

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About the Author

Alpheus Sherwin Cody (November 30, 1868 – April 4, 1959) was an American writer and entrepreneur who developed a long-running home-study course in speaking and writing and a signature series of advertisements asking “Do You Make These Mistakes in English?” A critic of traditional English education, Cody advocated colloquial style and grammar. His course, presented in a patented workbook format which he described as self-correcting, was purchased by over 150,000 students from its inception in 1918. He published essays, books and articles virtually nonstop from 1893 through 1950. In a book published in 1895, he gave the advice, "Write what you know—so go out and know something." Wikipedia

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Also see:

• [v . 1] Word-Study 

  [v . 2] Grammar & Punctuation  

  [v . 3] Composition & Rhetoric 

  [v . 4] Constructive Rhetoric 

  [v . 5] Story Writing & Journalism 

  [v . 6] How To Read And What To Read