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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Wednesday, November 16, 2022

The Women Novelists by R. Brimley Johnson

The Women Novelists by R. Brimley Johnson

THE WOMEN NOVELISTS

BY

R. BRIMLEY JOHNSON

AUTHOR OF
“TALES PROM CHAUCER” “TOWARDS RELIGION”
“TENNYSON AND HIS POETRY”

    

CONTENTS


PAGE

Introduction    1
       Before Miss Burney
The First Woman Novelist    7
       Fanny Burney, 1752-1840
A Picture of Youth    35
       Fanny Burney’s “Camilla”
“Cecilia” to “Sense and Sensibility”    54
       Writers from 1782-1811
A Study in Fine Art    66
       Jane Austen, 1775-1817
A “Most Accomplished Coquette”    105
       Jane Austen’s “Lady Susan”
Parallel Passages    117
       Jane Austen and Fanny Burney
“Persuasion” to “Jane Eyre”    131
       Writers from 1818-1847
A Lonely Soul    164
       Charlotte Brontë, 1816-1855[Pg viii]
“Jane Eyre” to “Scenes of Clerical Life”    179
       Writers from 1847-1858
A Professional Woman    204
       George Eliot, 1819-1880
The Great Four    226
       Burney, Austen, Brontë, George Eliot
The Woman’s Man    245
       An Ideal and a Point of View
Personalities    263
       Character Analysis and Biographical Outlines
Conclusion    282
Appendix—List of Minor Writers    293
Index to Authors and Titles    297

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