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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Friday, April 8, 2022

The Science of Poetry and the Philosophy of Language by Hudson Maxim

 

The Science of Poetry by Hudson Maxim
 

The Science of Poetry and the Philosophy of Language 

 

by Hudson Maxim


Book is about developing a practical method for literary criticism and analysis, and a standard uniformity for determining the relative merits of literary production. 

About the Author 

Hudson Maxim

Hudson Maxim (February 3, 1853 – May 6, 1927), was a U.S. inventor and chemist who invented a variety of explosives, including smokeless gunpowder, Thomas Edison referred to him as "the most versatile man in America". He was the brother of Hiram Maxim, inventor of the Maxim gun and uncle of Hiram Percy Maxim, inventor of the Maxim Silencer.

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The Story of a Dream by Ethel Maude Colson

 

The Story of a Dream by Ethel Maude Colson
 

The Story of a Dream 

 

by Ethel Maude Colson

 

Just over the border which lies between
The life which we feel and know
And that which no earth-blind eyes have seen,  
Is a place where all souls must go;
 
Where strange things happen and visions come,
And life like a fancy seems.
As far and faint as a wild bee’s hum, —
’Tis the wonderful Land of Dreams.
 
There joys too pure for this baser earth
Lie waiting for eager hearts,
And loves which died in their very birth
Grow near as the world departs;
There vanished faces look forth and smile,
And many a lost hope gleams,
And buried thoughts live a sweet, short while, —
In the wonderful Land of Dreams.
 
There sorrows shirked must be borne anew,
And many a heart mustache;
But how sweet is the land where all dreams are true,
The world which each soul must make!
Glad Life and Death in its bounds are one.
 
Each fed by its varying streams,
And all return, when their days have gone, —
To the wonderful Land of Dreams
 


 Bibliographic Information

Title:    The Story of a Dream, American Fiction, 1774-1920
Author:    Ethel Maude Colson
Publisher:    C.H. Kerr, 1896
Original From:    Michigan State University
Digitized:    Oct 15, 2013
Length:    304 pages

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 About the Author 

Edith Matilda Thomas
Edith Matilda Thomas (August 12, 1854 – September 13, 1925) was an American poet who "was one of the first poets to capture successfully the excitement of the modern city." Wikipedia

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The Muses by Ethel Maude Colson (Poem)

 

THE MUSES 

 

by Ethel Maude Colson

 

Of old the Muses sat on high,
And heard and judged the songs of men;
On one they smiled, who loitered by;
Of toiling ten, they slighted ten.  

They lightly serve who serve us best,
Nor know they how the task was done ;
We Muses love a soul at rest,
But violence and toil we shun.

If men say true, the Muses now
Have changed their ancient habitude,
And would be served with knitted brow,
And stress and toil each day renewed.

So each one with the other vies,
Of those who weave romance or song:
On us, O Muse, bestow thy prize,
For we have striven well and long! 

And yet methinks I hear the hest
Come murmuring down from Helicon:
They lightly serve who serve us best,
Nor know they how the task was done!

— Edith M. Thomas


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 About the Author 

Edith Matilda Thomas
Edith Matilda Thomas (August 12, 1854 – September 13, 1925) was an American poet who "was one of the first poets to capture successfully the excitement of the modern city." Wikipedia

How to Read Poetry by Ethel Maude Colson

How to Write Poetry by Ethel Maude Colson

 How to Read Poetry 

by Ethel Maude Colson


 This book offers up a classic view of the poetry and how to read poetry to fully appreciate it's depths. You will get an insight into the poetic philosophies behind the poetry of writers like Sara Teasdale, Rupert Brooke and William Ernest Henley (and more).

It may be plainly stated, in beginning, that this little book is in no sense a didactic or technical treatise, that it sheers humbly far away from the academic or educational religion. Textbooks, conveying formal poetic information, offering best and most incontrovertible of studious reasons for the why and how of poetry reading, are thicker than flowers in May or sad hearts in war time, but here is no hint of addition to their number.


The best argument that can be advanced in favor of marriage is that marriage has been found happy. The best of all reasons for reading poetry is because one loves it. And the best way to read poetry is with the love that, for love's sake, finds its own pathway, works its own miracles of sympathy and understanding.
 

The simple intent, therefore, of -How to Read Poetry- is to assist the lay poetry lover-far more numerous and universal than might be imagined - to comprehend and, if necessary, defend his affection; to remove the curse too widely laid by scholastic injunctions and -required reading;- to persuade the non-poetic reader who, for whatever reason, believes that he does not like poetry that at heart he really does....

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About the Author 

Edith Matilda Thomas
Edith Matilda Thomas (August 12, 1854 – September 13, 1925) was an American poet who "was one of the first poets to capture successfully the excitement of the modern city." Wikipedia



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How to Write Poetry by Ethel Maude Colson

How to Write Poetry by Ethel Maude Colson

How to Write Poetry 

by Ethel Maude Colson



It is assumed that those sufficiently interested in the writing of poetry to read books about it already are acquainted with the little that may be known of the laws of English prosody or at least know how and where to find them. And those who desire to follow far the keen study of poetic production are commended to such admirable works as Max Eastman's sympathetic treatise on The Enjoyment of Poetry, C. E. Andrews enlightening and comprehensive volume, T he Reading and Writing of Verse, Marguerite Wilkinson's The New Voices, An Introduction to Can temporary Poetry; and The New Era in American Poetry, by Louis Untermeyer. Each of these books, especially, perhaps, that of Professor Andrews, will help the serious, poetic student to much that he ought to know.

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About the Author 

Edith Matilda Thomas
Edith Matilda Thomas (August 12, 1854 – September 13, 1925) was an American poet who "was one of the first poets to capture successfully the excitement of the modern city." Wikipedia


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How to Become an Author A Practical Guide by Arnold Bennett (Version 2)

Arnold Bennett How to Become an Author A Practical Guide by Arnold Bennett (Version 2)

A

How to Become an Author A Practical Guide 

 

by Arnold Bennett 

 

(Version 2)

 

In the year 1902 there were published 1743 volumes of fiction, 504 educational works, 480 historical and biographical works, 567 volumes of theology and sermons, 463 political and economical works, and 227 books of criticism and belles-lather. These were the principal divisions of the grand army of 5839 new books issued during the year, and it will be seen that fiction is handsomely entitled to the first place. And the position of fiction is even loftier than appears from the above figures; for, with the exception of a few school.

 "How to Become an Author" is an instructional book on writing by Bennett. The author gives advice on how to build a literary career and form your own style.

Contents:

  1. The Literary Career
  2. The Formation of Style
  3. Journalism
  4. Short Stories
  5. Sensational and Other Serials
  6. The Novel
  7. Non-fictional Writing
  8. The Business Side of Books
  9. The Occasional Author
  10. Playwriting
  11. Specimen Page Showing Correcting for Press

About the Author 

Arnold Bennett

Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist. He was a prolific writer: between the start of his career in 1898 and his death he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboration with other writers), and a daily journal totalling more than a million words. He wrote articles and stories for more than 100 different newspapers and periodicals, worked in and briefly ran the Ministry of Information in the First World War, and wrote for the cinema in the 1920s. The sales of his books were substantial, and he was the most financially successful British author of his day. Wikipedia 

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Fame And Fiction: An Inquiry Into Certain Popularities by Arnold Bennett

 

Fame And Fiction: An Inquiry Into Certain Popularities (1901) by Arnold Bennett

Fame And Fiction: An Inquiry Into Certain Popularities (1901) 

 

by Arnold Bennett


The "average reader", and the recipe for popularity.--Miss Braddon.--Mr. J.M. Barrie.--Charlotte M. Yonge.--Miss Rhoda Broughton.--Madame Sarah Grand.--"The master Christian."--Miss E.T. Fowler.--"Red pottage."--A note on the revolution in journalism.--The fiction of popular magazines.--Mr. Silas Hocking.--The craze for historical fiction in America.--Mr. James Lane Allen.--"David Harum."--Mr. George Gissing.--Ivan Turgenev.--Mr. George Moore

About the Author 

Arnold Bennett

Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist. He was a prolific writer: between the start of his career in 1898 and his death he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboration with other writers), and a daily journal totalling more than a million words. He wrote articles and stories for more than 100 different newspapers and periodicals, worked in and briefly ran the Ministry of Information in the First World War, and wrote for the cinema in the 1920s. The sales of his books were substantial, and he was the most financially successful British author of his day. Wikipedia 

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