Why Your Manuscripts Return by Alexander Good

 

 Why Your Manuscripts Return  

by Alexander Good

CONTENTS.

Introduction ------- 7

Fiction Writing ------ g

1. The Plot ------ g

2. Construction - - - - - - 12

3. Characterization - - - - - 17

4. Dialogue - - - - - - 21

5. Atmosphere ------ 25

The Short Story ------ 30

The Article -------33

Poetry ---- 36

Style ---------38

The Manuscript ------ 42

The Note Book -------45

Placing the Manuscript ----- 46

Finally -------- 52 

Introduction.

IT may be supposed that the Guide Posts along the road to literary success are already sufficiently numerous.

Whence comes, then, this enormous mass of crude, undigested material with which the  "Literary Reader " has to wage an unending struggle ?

An outpost, beyond the furthest advanced guard of the Publishing Army, this Reader has to cope with the first onslaught of the literary beginner (often termed in dreadful phrase "literary aspirant''), and it is a matter of surprise to find him almost invariably with an imperfect knowledge of the weapon he proposes to wield.

The Reader who should set his judgment within a hundred miles of infallibility, has undoubtedly many shocks in store for him, and it were well for all of us to remember the dreadful legend of our Greatest Author having condemned the first book of our other Greatest Author.

The aim set up for the present publication is a very modest one. It proposes only to indicate the faults which chiefly disfigure the MSS. to beginners, and to suggest appropriate remedies.

For the sake of convenience I have divided my remarks on Fiction Writing into the following sections, viz. : (i) Plot, (2) Construction, (3) Characterization, (4) Dialogue, (5) Atmosphere.

These headings follow the form into which my reports on the books submitted to me customarily fall ; it will be observed that the magic word " Style " is omitted, but a few remarks on that subject will be appended.

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The Awakening and Selected Short Stories, by Kate Chopin

The Awakening and Selected Short Stories

by Kate Chopin

 

 The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women's issues without condescension. It is also widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism, generating a mixed reaction from contemporary readers and critics. Wikipedia

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Creative Writing For Advanced College Classes by George G. Williams (1935) eBook

 

Creative Writing For Advanced College Classes 

by 

George G. Williams

 (1935)

 

Preface to the First Edition 

 

One can think of a dozen helpful and beautifully written books on English style by masters of the English language; but unfortunately none of them is suitable in method or in purpose for use in the average college classroom. On the other hand, one can think of a hundred excellent and really indispensable handbooks of English grammar, English usage, and English rhetoric; but unfortunately none of them is of much value to people aspiring to literary levels higher than those of mere clarity and correctness. The first kind must always be the study and delight of mature writers; the second kind, the study if not the delight of immature writers. But one can hardly recall a textbook of composition written exclusively for people in the intermediate stage between immaturity and maturity. 

This book is intended to supply the lack; it is written for people who know most of what is to be learned from the handbooks, but who do not yet know how to create literature.

The book consists of three parts. Part I is a discussion of certain principles which apply to creative writing of any sort. Part II is a discussion of principles which apply to exposition; and Part III, of principles which apply to fiction. This work is, therefore, both a generalized study of the methods of creative writing, and a particularized study of the most important types of creative writing. 

It has been in the author's mind that Part I and the first three chapters of Part II should fill the needs of the first semester in a full year-course in advanced writing, and that the rest of the book should fill the needs of the second semester. Yet all the parts are so independent of one another that any part could serve as a text for a course lasting only one term; and at the same time, other parts could serve as private study for individuals interested in writing for other purposes than the attainment of a college credit. 

All but two or three of the sets of Exercises in the volume are creative rather than critical. That is, they demand that the student produce something from his own mind or imagination, instead of merely examining and appreciating what others have written. Many more Exercises are included than can possibly be completed in a year. But it was thought that a superfluity which would allow both the instructor and the student wide liberty of choice would be preferable to a paucity which would force both the instructor and the student into deadening formalism. 

And now about the point of view from which the book is written. Though the author believes that no important point discussed in the average correspondence course for professional fiction writers has been omitted from this book, the author's purpose has not been to discuss writing from the professional viewpoint. On the other hand, everything said in this book may be of real value to the student who intends to become a professional. The only difference, consequently, between this book and the books for professionals is in the spirit of approach.

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How to Write a Novel (Audio Book)

 

 

How to Write a Novel

 (Audio Book)

 PDF - Audio - eText

 

I address myself to the man or woman of talent—those people who have writing ability, but who need instruction in the manipulation of characters, the formation of plots, and a host of other points with which I shall deal hereafter. Although no school could turn out novelists to order there is yet enough common material in all art-work to be mapped out in a course of lessons. I shall show that the two great requisites of novel-writing are (1) a good story to tell, and (2) ability to tell it effectively. Briefly stated, my position is this: no teaching can produce "good stories to tell," but it can increase the power of "the telling," and change it from crude and ineffective methods to those which reach the apex of developed art. - Summary from the preface

Genre(s): *Non-fiction, Writing & Linguistics

Language: English

 

Also see:  How to Write a Novel (Online Book)

 

Selected Short Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Audio Book)

 

 

Selected Short Stories 

by 

F. Scott Fitzgerald 

(Audio Book)

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940)

Ranging in tone from humor to sentimentality, these stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald are set against a backdrop of jazz, flappers, and the changing mores of American society. In "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," wallflower Bernice is taken in hand by her more popular cousin, whose motives are not entirely altruistic. In "Benediction," a young woman visits her brother in seminary. A camel goes to a party in "The Camel's Back." "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is a poignant fantasy about a man who ages backward. Finally, tragedy befalls a young couple in "The Lees of Happiness." The stories in this collection are from the books Flappers and Philosophers and Tales of the Jazz Age. (Summary by Laurie Anne Walden)

Genre(s): Short Stories, Anthologies

Language: English

How To Write Short Stories, With Examples by Ring Lardner (Audio Book)

How To Write Short Stories, With Examples 

by 

Ring Lardner 

(Audio Book)

Ring Lardner (1885 - 1933)

Here are 10 humorous short stories by Ring Lardner (March 5, 1885 – September 25, 1933), an American sports columnist and short-story writer best known for his satirical writings on sports, marriage, and the theatre. His contemporaries Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, and F. Scott Fitzgerald all professed strong admiration for his writing. ( Wikipedia and Michele Fry)

Genre(s): Short Stories, Sports Fiction

Language: English

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Also see:

•  How To Write Short Stories, With Examples by Ring Lardner (eBook)
  

 

 

 Miscellaneous Poe: Poems and Short Stories (Audio Book)

Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849)

Come and hear some of the wonderful, magical, fantastic and macabre works of the inestimable Edgar Allan Poe. This collection contains the world famous poems Annabel Lee, The Bells, Eldorado and The Raven. Also included is his masterful short story, the horror classic The Tell-Tale Heart. Poe's vocabulary and ability to rhyme and 'turn a phrase' have made him one of the most celebrated and well regarded writers of all time! (Summary by TimoleonWash)

Genre(s): Horror & Supernatural Fiction, Poetry

Language: English 

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