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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Monday, June 17, 2024

12 Creepy Tales By: Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) (Audio Books)



12 Creepy Tales  

 

By: Edgar Allan Poe

 

(Audio Books)


Description

From the master of the psychological horror genre comes this brilliant collection 12 Creepy Tales by Edgar Allan Poe. It features some of his classics like The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat and The Cask of Amontillado which are supreme examples of his craft.

The Black Cat is a truly horrifying story of a death-row confession of guilt by a serial killer. The much loved family cat becomes the agent of his destruction and inevitable descent into crime and madness. Another superb story is The Facts in the Case of M Valdemar. In this chilling tale, a mesmerist uses his skill to put a man into a trance at the exact moment of death. Poe wrote this story based on a newspaper report that he read about a New York doctor who was supposed to have conducted an operation after placing the patient under hypnosis. Such was Poe's talent that the story was mistaken for a genuine scientific report when it first came out! Writers and poets like Kipling and Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote personally to Poe, congratulating him on creating such a fantastic story.

For sheer suspense and Gothic horror, The Masque of the Red Death is unrivaled. Set in some unnamed country, in an unnamed time, it tells of Prince Prospero who retreats into a sealed fortress with his trusted friends to escape a scourge called the Red Death, a mysterious and fatal disease that is decimating the countryside. The images of death, blood and disease linger in the mind long after you put the book down.

A crumbling ruin steeped in an atmosphere of doom and decay... the last descendant of a noble family... an opium addict and his deluded fantasies&emdash;these form the elements of one of Poe's most atmospheric creepy tales The Fall of the House of Usher. It is also one of his most famous stories and is considered to depict Poe as being at the peak of his craftsmanship. The surreal feeling of this story has made it a perfect choice for adaptation on film and television.

Another truly scary tale is The Pit and The Pendulum, which describes the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition in medieval Spain in the sixteenth century. The collection also features Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem The Raven which is guaranteed to send a shiver down the spine of even the most skeptical of readers.

Whether you're a horror story fan or not, 12 Creepy Tales by Edgar Allan Poe is a great addition to your bookshelf.


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