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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Monday, March 28, 2022

The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

 

The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Return of Sherlock Holmes 

 

by Arthur Conan Doyle


The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a 1905 collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903–1904, by Arthur Conan Doyle. The stories were published in the Strand Magazine in Britain and Collier's in the United States. Wikipedia

Originally published: February 1905
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Series: Sherlock Holmes
Followed by: The Valley of Fear

About the Author 

 Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle KStJ DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction. Wikipedia

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