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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Saturday, November 26, 2022

The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 02 by Stevenson

 

The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 04, by Robert Louis Stevenson

THE WORKS OF

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

SWANSTON EDITION

VOLUME 2
(eText)

 

CONTENTS

THE AMATEUR EMIGRANT


PART I.—FROM THE CLYDE TO SANDY HOOK


The Second Cabin    7
Early Impressions    15
Steerage Scenes    24
Steerage Types    32
The Sick Man    43
The Stowaways    53
Personal Experience and Review    66
New York    77

PART II.—ACROSS THE PLAINS

Notes by the Way To Council Bluffs    93
The Emigrant Train    107
The Plains of Nebraska    115
The Desert of Wyoming    119
Fellow Passengers    124
Despised Races    129
To the Golden Gates    133

THE OLD AND NEW PACIFIC CAPITALS

I.    Monterey    141
II.    San Francisco    159

THE SILVERADO SQUATTERS

The Silverado Squatters    173
In the Valley:
I.    Calistoga    179
II.    The Petrified Forest    184
III.    Napa Wine    188
IV.    The Scot Abroad    194
With the Children of Israel:
I.    To Introduce Mr. Kelmar    201
II.    First Impressions of Silverado    205
III.    The Return    215
The Act of Squatting    221
The Hunter’s Family    230
The Sea-Fogs    239
The Toll House    245
A Starry Drive    250
Episodes in the Story of a Mine    254
Toils and Pleasures    264

“VIRGINIBUS PUERISQUE” AND OTHER PAPERS

I.    “Virginibus Puerisque”:
I.    281
II.    292
III. On Falling in Love    302
IV. Truth of Intercourse    311
II.    Crabbed Age and Youth    321
III.    An Apology for Idlers    334
IV.    Ordered South    345
V.    Æs Triplex    358
VI.    El Dorado    368
VII.    The English Admirals    372
VIII.    Some Portraits by Raeburn    385
IX.    Child’s Play    394
X.    Walking Tours    406
XI.    Pan’s Pipes    415
XII.    A Plea for Gas Lamps    420


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