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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Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Short Stories for English Courses by Rosa Mary Redding Mikels

SHORT STORIES FOR ENGLISH COURSES EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY ROSA M. R. MIKELS SHORTRIDGE HIGH SCHOOL, INDIANAPOLIS, IND.

SHORT STORIES   FOR   ENGLISH COURSES

 EDITED  WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 

BY   ROSA M. R. MIKELS 

SHORTRIDGE HIGH SCHOOL, INDIANAPOLIS, IND.

 

CONTENTS 

PREFACE  
INTRODUCTION  

  • REQUIREMENTS OF THE SHORT STORY  
  • HOW THIS BOOK MAY BE USED   
  • THE FIRST CHRISTMAS-TREE Henry van Dyke   
  • A FRENCH TAR-BABY Joel Chandler Harris   
  • SONNY'S CHRISTENIN' Ruth McEnery Stuart   
  • CHRISTMAS NIGHT WITH SATAN John Fox, Jr.   
  • A NEST-EGG James Whitcomb Riley   
  • WEE WILLIE WINKIE Rudyard Kipling   
  • THE GOLD BUG Edgar Allan Poe   
  • THE RANSOM OF RED CHIEF O. Henry  
  • THE FRESHMAN FULL-BACK Ralph D. Paine   
  • GALLEGHER Richard Harding Davis   
  • THE JUMPING FROG Mark Twain   
  • THE LADY OR THE TIGER? Frank R. Stockton   
  • THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT Francis Bret Harte  
  • THE REVOLT OF MOTHER Mary E. Wilkins Freeman   
  • MARSE CHAN Thomas Nelson Page  
  • "POSSON JONE'" George W. Cable   
  • OUR AROMATIC UNCLE Henry Cuyler Bunner   
  • QUALITY John Galsworthy  
  • THE TRIUMPH OF NIGHT Edith Wharton 
  •  A MESSENGER Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews   
  • MARKHEIM Robert Louis Stevenson. 


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