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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Thursday, March 17, 2022

The Best American Short Stories ... and the Yearbook of the American Short Story by O'Brien, Edward Joseph Harrington, 1890-1941

 

The Best American short stories ... and the Yearbook of the American short story by O'Brien, Edward Joseph Harrington, 1890-1941

The Best American Short Stories ... and the Yearbook of the American Short Story by O'Brien, Edward Joseph Harrington, 1890-1941

Title varies: 1915-41, The Best short stories. 1942-, The Best American short stories

Imprint varies: 1915-41, Boston : Small, Maynard & company; 1926-32, New York : Dodd, Mead and company; 1933-, Boston : Houghton Mifflin company

Editors: 1915-41, E.J. O'Brien; 1942-1977, Martha Foley; 1978, Ted Solotaroff; 1979, Joyce Carol Oates; 1980, Stanley Elkin; 1981, Hortense Calisher; 1982, John Gardner; 1983, Anne Tyler; 1984, John Updike; 1985, Gail Godwin; 1986, Raymond Carver; 1987, Ann Beattie; 1988, Mark Helprin; 1989, Margaret Atwood; 1990, Richard Ford; 1991, Alice Adams

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