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

Header

Liquid Story Binder XE by Black Obelisk Software

Disable Copy Paste

Amazon Quick Linker

Monday, April 11, 2022

Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1749) by John Cleland (Online Book)

 

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure  (1749)  by John Cleland (Online Book)

 

Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure 

 

by John Cleland

(Online Book)

 

 Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1749) was the first widely-read English novel in the genre "Erotica." It was written by John Cleland as he was serving hard time at a debtor's prison in London. Over the centuries, the novel has been repeatedly banned by authorities, assuring its preeminent role in the history of the ongoing struggle against censorship of free expression.

Until Fanny Hill, previous heroines had conducted their amorous liaisons "off-stage." Any erotic misadventures were described euphemistically. As women who had gone astray, they always repented, which made even their most outrageous dalliances somehow suitable for a moralistic readership. The protagonist of Fanny Hill, however, never repented a single moment of her sexual exploits ... quite the contrary! And with Fanny, the devil is in the details, realistically described. (Summary by Denny Mike)

 

Buy John Cleland Books at Amazon

 Also see:

 

About the Author 

John Cleland
John Cleland (c. 1709, baptised – 23 January 1789) was an English novelist best known for his fictional Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, whose eroticism led to his arrest. James Boswell called him "a sly, old malcontent" Wikipedia



No comments: