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

Friday, November 4, 2022

A History of Story-Telling: Studies in the Development of Narrative by Arthur Ransome

A History of Story-Telling: Studies in the Development of Narrative by Ransome

A History of Story-Telling: Studies in the Development of Narrative by Ransome

EDITED BY ARTHUR RANSOME

THE WORLD'S STORY-TELLERS

Each volume contains a selection of complete stories, an Introductory Essay by Arthur Ransome, and a Frontispiece Portrait by J. Gavin.

List of volumes already published:—

  • GAUTIER
  • HOFFMANN
  • POE
  • HAWTHORNE
  • MÉRIMÉE
  • BALZAC
  • CHATEAUBRIAND
  • THE ESSAYISTS
  • CERVANTES
  • Others in preparation

In cloth, 1s. net; cloth gilt, gilt top, 1s. 6d. net per vol.

LONDON AND EDINBURGH

T. C. AND E. C. JACK

 

CONTENTS

 

Preface     vii
PART I
Origins     5
'The Romance of the Rose'     19
Chaucer and Boccaccio     31
The Rogue Novel     51
The Elizabethans     67
The Pastoral     81
Cervantes     93
The Essayists' Contribution to Story-telling     107
Transition: Bunyan and Defoe     125
Richardson and the Feminine Novel     139
Fielding, Smollett, and the Masculine Novel     155
A Note on Sterne     169
[xvi] PART II
Chateaubriand and Romanticism     175
Scott and Romanticism     187
The Romanticism of 1830     201
Balzac     217
Gautier and the East     231
Poe and the New Technique     243
Hawthorne and Moral Romance     257
Mérimée and Conversational Story-telling     273
Flaubert     287
A Note on De Maupassant     298
Conclusion     305
Index     313

[xvii]
ILLUSTRATIONS
     TO FACE PAGE
Jean de Meung     22
Geoffrey Chaucer     38
Giovanni Boccaccio     44
Alain René le Sage     60
Sir Philip Sidney     84
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra     96
Richard Steele and Joseph Addison     114
John Bunyan     126
Daniel Defoe     132
Samuel Richardson     140
Fanny Burney     146
Jane Austen     150
Henry Fielding     156
Tobias Smollett     166
Jean Jacques Rousseau     176
François René de Chateaubriand     180
Sir Walter Scott     188
[xviii] Victor Hugo     202
Alexandre Dumas     210
Honoré de Balzac     218
Théophile Gautier     236
William Godwin     244
Edgar Allan Poe     250
Nathaniel Hawthorne     258
Prosper Mérimée     274
Gustave Flaubert     288
Guy de Maupassant     300


The PDF might take a minute to load. Or, click to download PDF.

If your Web browser is not configured to display PDF files. No worries, just click here to download the PDF file.

Posted by at
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)