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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Friday, April 8, 2022

How to Write Poetry by Ethel Maude Colson

How to Write Poetry by Ethel Maude Colson

How to Write Poetry 

by Ethel Maude Colson



It is assumed that those sufficiently interested in the writing of poetry to read books about it already are acquainted with the little that may be known of the laws of English prosody or at least know how and where to find them. And those who desire to follow far the keen study of poetic production are commended to such admirable works as Max Eastman's sympathetic treatise on The Enjoyment of Poetry, C. E. Andrews enlightening and comprehensive volume, T he Reading and Writing of Verse, Marguerite Wilkinson's The New Voices, An Introduction to Can temporary Poetry; and The New Era in American Poetry, by Louis Untermeyer. Each of these books, especially, perhaps, that of Professor Andrews, will help the serious, poetic student to much that he ought to know.

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About the Author 

Edith Matilda Thomas
Edith Matilda Thomas (August 12, 1854 – September 13, 1925) was an American poet who "was one of the first poets to capture successfully the excitement of the modern city." Wikipedia


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