Art and Life in Novel Writing
Classic and valuable archive. Misc pearls of utility, agent irritation points, plus takeaways on craft. Also, evil authors abound!
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Book Review - Part 2 - Module 8 The Writing Life by Annie Dillard This book plus some of the assignments within The Art of the Novel gave me permission to be more descriptive in my novel. I fear that it also led me to start too many chapters with exposition. My excuse is wanting to assure that readers know when they pick up the book each time the place and the point of view. The chapters of Dillard's book that I hope to keep in mind are the last two, Chapters 6 and 7, with her analogies of writing and Ferrar Burn's struggle to bring in the log from the sea and then Dave Rahm, the stunt pilot. The first tale is about the writer's struggle against and with th…
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The Writing Life 1. Dillard's perspective of the writing life provides insight into the reality of writing for a living, rather than the romantic notions that my brain tends to fixate upon. I love how she gives permission for it to take years to write a book. I often berate myself for being so slow, but Dillard gives me permission to take my time. I also needed the reminder to create a schedule. It is all too easy to not get around to writing without one. 2. On the practical end she had some motivating comments about revision. Two that particularly struck me were, "I hope you will toss it all and not look back," and "You can waste a year worrying about it, or y…
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Art of Fiction 1. How did the book help you as a writer? What overall aspects of it taught you something? I don’t honestly know if this helped with my writing, though I did like a few of the concepts that he addressed (see #2). I had a hard time reading this, since it was so dense, and I don’t feel that I retained much of it. The “Write Awayâ€� book dealt with many of the same concepts, but in a much more accessible style. 2. What two or three major lessons did you learn from the book that you can apply to your writing and/or your novel? I did like his point about writers benefitting from learning and applying technique, rather than “rulesâ€�. I liked the …
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The Art of Fiction by John Gardner 1. John Gardner is very smart and talented, but also extremely condescending and pompous. As such, I often found myself sort of chuckling reading this book, as he called certain types of would-be writings insulting names, but when I look past the tone, I know there's good advice here. Gardner's emphasis on the importance of reading and engaging in deep, meaningful exploration and study of writing craft is well taken, but I do feel this book is for undergrads and as such was basic for me. I've been teaching English for 16 years. For me, the book had good reminders but no new information. 2. Gardner's advice about clarity and the…
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The Writing Life - Annie Dillard 1. How did the book help you as a writer? What overall aspects of it taught you something? This is the journal entry I wrote directly after finishing the book: In reading this book I find myself wishing I had read it in my early teens, so as to have clearer expectations for the life of a writer, though by now, I largely have learned the same lessons on my own. Enough time in any craft allows a person to bump into tricks of the trade in the dark, and in this way of bumping into them in the dark, the artist happens upon the secrets. In this way this book felt...validating, like a sigh of relief, "Thank God, it's that way for me too.…
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Book Report 1. How did the book help you as a writer? What overall aspects of it taught you something? 2. What two or three major lessons did you learn from the book that you can apply to your writing and/or your novel? 3. Was there anything in the books that obviously conflicted with lessons and readings in our novel writing program. If so, what were they? The Art of Fiction, by John Gardner 1. It taught me that the rules of writing a novel have roughly been the same ever since the beginning. It also taught me that all rules to writing are breakable and many of the early authors broke these rules to some degree or another. Therefore,…
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Betsy Mitchell at Del Rey, imprint of Random House, was inspired to look at the numbers and reasons she rejected the manuscripts submitted to her. Betsy’s tally starts with March of 2009 and runs to the end of the year. During that time she passed on 133 manuscripts. I found it very interesting. Just remember not to let it get you down. Here is her list of reasons why: Not what Del Rey is looking for (meaning we had enough on our list already of whatever subgenre was on offer): 22 A good manuscript but not right for our list (included a couple of nonfiction SF-related titles more suitable for a small press, the odd children’s book, etc.) 14 Not a …
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The Art of Fiction 1. This book was helpful in giving insights regarding what to write. It gave perspective regarding the liberties a writer should embrace and the risks he should be aware of. The section regarding basic skills convinced me to develop the habit of writing and then proof reading what I wrote to develop the innate skill to write good sentences. Writing sloppily from the outset creates a huge task to pore over tens of thousands of words correcting multitudes of bad structure. 2. a. Part 1 is good in helping to formulate personal styles and approaches to a story and how to test those styles whether they are functional for a reader to follow. b. …
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Book Reports Connie Whitmer WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL Donald Maass I found Donald Maass’s book empowering, and invaluable as a writing craft reference, in general, and for my project in particular. “If I write an amazing story, well – they will come!â€� His advice improved every paragraph, page and chapter, knowing what to cut, and what to leave in. And affirmed the passion I feel for the importance of my story, and my need to tell it. And, most exciting, he reaffirmed exactly what I am trying to do. “To write a Break out Novel is to run free of the pack – To go beyond what has been done before - delve deeper, more original, unexplored realm…
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Robert Pfaff, Shrunken Heads, Book Reports Book Reports: The Art of Fiction (Gardener) 1. I have loved John Gardener since I read Grendel in high school. He validated my instincts. For example, I like to break the rules but have always believed that you have to master the rules before you can break them well. Learning a musical instrument or a foreign language teaches you the same idea. You must understand and appreciate structure before you can manipulate it. 11. 1) He debunks certain myths like “Write what you know.â€� It’s a good departure point for a first book, and my first book is a memoir. But I prefer to write about topics that inspire me to learn…
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BOOK REPORTS THE ART OF FICTION by John Gardner How did the book help you as a writer? What overall aspects of it taught you something? I have to say when I started to read it, for a moment I was not liking John Gardner's tone. For me, a little too pompous. But, I agree with what him in that a writer needs to work on his craft to get even better, even if you are born with the talent. The book helped me have a better understanding on the overall craft of writing and the dedication one must put to really become one of the bests. I also learned by his examples proper way of tackling different ways of expressing oneself as a writer. …
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BOOK REPORTS: 1. How did the book help you as a writer? What overall aspects of it taught you something? 2. What two or three major lessons did you learn from the book that you can apply to your writing and/or your novel? 3. Was there anything in the books that obviously conflicted with lessons and readings in our novel writing program. If so, what were they? THE ART OF FICTION - JOHN GARDNER This book challenged me on two levels: an abstract/theoretical level and a more concrete “craftâ€� level. As difficult as it is to apply theory sometimes, it is good to pull yourself away from your work and try to look at it from afar. The “common errorsâ€� section …
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The art of fiction This book does a great job of inspiring the creative spark with its built in lessons, and its a perfect starting place for new writers for this reason. John Gardner's respect for writing as an art form is appreciated, because he stresses the importance of writing not being clearly defined by "do's" and "do not's", or complex mathematical equations. I like the reminder that every subtle detail must be relevant in the story, and that unimportant facts need to become so or simply discarded. This is an easy mistake to make, and the book helps to teach how destructive it can be. It is certainly something I keep a keen eye out for in my revisions. The…
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"The Art of Fiction" by John Gardner (a great primer for this commercial program)
 1. How did the book help you as a writer? What overall aspects of it taught you something? “ The first and last important rule for the creative writer, then I stat though there may be rules (formulas) for ordinary, easily publishable fiction - imitation fiction - there are no rules for real fiction, any more than there are rules for serious visual art or musical composition. Pg. 158. That line made me question a lot of things. With that said Gardner does later imply that you have to be a master to learn how to break those rules correctly. It was good reminder that Im still gree…
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Writing the Breakout Novel: 1. Writing the Breakout Novel was my favorite craft book of this series. This book taught me a lot about what makes specific novels fall into the “breakoutâ€� category, such as how to create a good conflict, how to make theme memorable and relatable, and how to create larger-than-life characters. Overall, Maass gave very specific examples to allow me to not only learn but also see what makes breakout fiction and how to re-create those techniques in my own writing. It also helped me as a writer because it planted all these seeds about what I should be thinking about while I’m working, which was very helpful. 2. I think the biggest less…
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By Chris Stewart As someone who organizes readings and a large literary arts festival with workshops, author appearances, and exhibitors, over the last ten years I have developed a list of writers who I will not work with again. And rest assured, I’m not the only one who does this. Why? Because they didn’t follow directions. It’s that simple. Who's on it? Writers who acted like the organizer/staff were their personal assistant/manager. Take note of the following ways to avoid this blacklist and be a true professional! KNOW YOUR OWN SCHEDULE Double booking is such a big no-no we can’t believe you’re not aware of this already yourself. Whatev…
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The Art of Fiction – John Gardner 1. A valuable grammar Bible in Part II - Notes on the Fictional Process - that includes basic skills to avoid common errors. Gardner also encourages writers to create their own style. Both directions require practice! 2. Major lessons: A. CHAPTER 5 VOICE: Vary sentence lengths and rhythms to excite the reader. *A sentence with three syntactic slots: The man/walked/down the road. (pg. 106) Don’t cram all three with details. Load down slot 1: The old man, stooped, bent almost double under his load of tin pans, yet smiling with a sort of maniacal good cheer and chattering to himself in what seemed to be…
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(Some context: previously I’ve read, many times, SELF-EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS, Browne and King; and STEIN ON WRITING, Sol Stein.) THE ART OF FICTION WRITING John Gardner guides us through the universe of fiction-writing, sharing so much with such authority and clarity, that I was able to go back to my draft, to fuzzy areas, and start to bring them into focus. (I knew things were fuzzy, didn’t know what to do to fix them). Especially on top of the two books I’d read previously, the craft aspects gain critical mass, helped by his excellent examples. An important message for me is that scenes must have enough detail to come to life for the reader, and that lan…
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The Art of Fiction: I had the good fortune of drinking in some of the same bars Gardner frequented. I was an undergrad at SIU-Carbondale. Didn't know him. Or maybe I did. I drank a lot in those days, then went back to the dorm and had ponderous discussions about the meaning of everything. Maybe this is where this book came originated. I might have been there. I don't remember, but it makes a good story, particularly if one forgets that Gardner was a family man with young children and a national reputation following the publication of Grendel. Did I know him? Probably not. Did I sit in the dorm lounge, drinking crappy beer and pontificating about the virtues of clean writ…
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Write Away: Overall, this text was useful for me, in that its balance between instruction and examples is well-composed. It is far easier to become immersed in the theory of the instruction with well-chosen examples of the applied practices, and the examples of dialogue were most eye-opening for me. On page 108, included is an example from For the Sake of Elena, in which you can see the use of animated characterization. The dialogue portrayed how seamlessly dialogue can develop character and character relationships, rather than contrived dialogue with flat character animation. Dialogue is what I struggle with most, generally, when I write fiction. On page 113, still…
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Book Reports: The Art of Fiction by John Gardner This book has been aided me greatly in fleshing out a succinct plot, as well as promoting good writing practices. John Gardner really knows the great detail that goes into writing a believable plot with multidimensional characters and interactions. For that reason, my writing has flourished. The craft points he makes are spot on, and any novice or intermediate writer would be wise to take notice. The three lessons that I’ve learned from John Gardner include the importance of plotting, characterization, and good practices. His plotting advice is something I’ve referred to whenever I’ve gotten stuck on how scenes s…
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“The Art of Fictionâ€�, John Gardner How did the book help you as a writer? What overall aspects of it taught you something? This book gave me courage to break rules in my writing. Knowing the rules is imperative before breaking them. But I realize that many of my favorite books have rule-breaking elements in them. I detected an overall theme of aggressive attack in writing - through plot, dialogue, setting, characters, concrete details. Since I write YA, much of my writing is first-person present. Gardner is not a fan! But he did have some great tips on carrying the narrative and not starting every sentence with “I.â€� The big lesson for me: Balance is everyt…
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Books on Technique Utilized in The Novel Writing Program â—¾"The Art of Fiction" by John Gardner (a great primer for this commercial program) â—¾"Writing the Breakout Novel" by Donald Maass (another good primer) â—¾"Write Away" by Elizabeth George (a no nonsense primer, and humorous) â—¾"The Writing Life" by Annie Dillard (a look at the struggle) ________________________________________________________________________________ As you've noted on the novel writing program website, the above books are listed as must reads for this program. And that can't be closer to the truth. Therefore, the purpose of this forum is to cajole you into taking what you'…
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The Art of Fiction by John Gardner 1. How did the book help you as a writer? What overall aspects of it taught you something? By mentioning writing errors and discussing solutions to them, Gardner’s book was extremely educational. Through the examples and exercises in Gardner’s book, I learned appropriate sentence structure and vocabulary building. I also found Gardner’s examples to be very helpful. At the beginning of his book, Gardner promotes reading well-written novels. He explains that this will improve a writer’s craft. This definitely provoked me to read classics I’ve never read. Reading those novels definitely improved my writing skills. 2. …
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Writing the Breakout Novel 1. It helped me step back and evaluate my novel more objectively. There are specifics that need to be there intentionally, not just accidentally, including a strong theme that is understated through the characters rather than preached through narration. 2. I learned that the romance subplot needs to be more developed. Presently, there is nothing at stake, and it is little more than an afterthought. My book also needs improvement in description on all levels, especially in describing setting without excessive use of adjectives and adverbs or using teacup handicaps. 3. The one complication between the book and the novel writing program is th…
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