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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AS II / MODULE 8 BOOK REPORTS I). The Art of Fiction by John Gardner At first, it was very hard to read and absorb this book. Lots of inferences that I should have gone to college (or still attempt to) in order to write a decent narrative. Not happening. I stopped reading this until I got to AS II and forced myself to dive back in and got a lot more out of it this time around. What I found of interest: Genre crossing, using more than one genre (i.e. fantasy and historical romance) for your story idea. The common errors section became a valuable tool on what not to do. I referred to this section more than once while rewriting the first hundred pag…
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WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL, by Donald Maass. I've had this book (and its companion book WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL WORKBOOK) on my bookshelf since it was first published, as well as Maass's other craft books. I find them extremely helpful, but primarily in the way of editing pages once they're written; less so in the realm of helping me plan and execute a first draft. I've attended the Breakout Novel Intensive (BONI) workshop Maass gives twice. (BONI is based on this book and his more recent ones, particularly WRITING 21st CENTURY FICTION.) The exercises provide insight and help in making sure there is "tension on every page" and in crafting a compelling story. This b…
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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? This was the last book I read out of the list, so much of it was review of what I had already read. I did learn a great deal from the chapters regarding common writing errors and technique. What two or three major lessons did you learn from the book that you can apply to your writing and/or your novel? 1. The use of active voice vs. passive voice. This may not be news to most writers, but it made me more aware of it in my writing. I had to change a few lines of dialogue because of it. 2. Not to begin sentences with inf…
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Books: The Art of Fiction Writing the Breakout Novel Write Away The Writing Life The first book I read out of these four was The Writing Life because I'd heard a great deal about it, and always enjoy looking through the window of another author's life. Did the book help me as an author? Not entirely, no, but Dillard's candidness about her journey as a writer with all of its struggles and procrastination was endearing and relatable. Her ability to set the scene when she goes in between topics is wonderfully crafted. Some lessons or advice I took away from this book were: 1) As a writer you climb a long ladder until you can see over the roof, or over the clouds. (I…
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AS II – Module 8 Book Reports "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? This is the second time I’ve read this book. It should be the first book any writer reads on the craft of writing. It validated the areas of craft that I’ve been studying for the past eight-plus years. The book taught me that you have to know the rules of craft and master them before you can break them or create your own. 2. What two or three major lessons did you learn from the book that you can apply to your writing and/or your novel? a. The…
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AS II, Module VIII Nordstrom, John, Prose That Reads Like Poetry The Art of Writing Book Reports Assignment Writing a novel is a Sisyphean task, where the finished novel inevitably rolls down the hill and crushes the writer just as he thinks he’s beaten Fate by producing something rather than nothing. Elizabeth George, Write Away. George’s two fundamental points about writing, that is, that story is character and that setting is story too strike me as right on and thus reinforce my own theory of writing. In Prose That Reads Like Poetry, character and setting can be both internal and exterior parameters that interact with each other to create a plo…
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John Gardner - The Art of Fiction I read parts of this book in a fiction workshop in college, so it was somewhat familiar. It was good to be reminded of the importance of maintaining the “fictional dream.â€� Gardner’s discussion of writing within the context of other art forms was inspiring, as is his emphasis on the importance of writing exercises. I also found his discussion of fiction as “concrete philosophyâ€� (Homer), or as a particular form of thought, really interesting; it made me think about theme and it’s relationship to events in a work of fiction differently. Gardener’s section on Plotting was enlightening. It taught me that plotting and …
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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
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Book Reports: Gardner The Art of Fiction taught me that there are no absolute rules when it comes to fiction. For example, a term used often with regard to creative writing instruction is “show don’t tellâ€�. For many beginning writers this is good advice especially if they are drowning in abstraction. However, for the art of fiction to be entirely void of exposition is disastrous, turning a novel into a screenplay. While these rules can be helpful tools, the writer has to assess them and use them fittingly. One vital lesson from this book is “What Fancy sends, the writer must order by Judgementâ€�. An author may discover a tantalizing plot point but if it is not …
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THE ART OF FICTION, John Gardner How the book helped me as a writer: The copy I have is dated 1984, and it was interesting to see what I’d underlined in red, what my younger writer self found important. There were many great insights and to be reminded of things like not starting a sentence with an infinite verb phrase, were valuable. Gardner wrote, “The reader cannot understand or believe the change unless some clue is provided as to the reason for it.â€� And “moment by moment authenticating detail as the mainstay of fiction.â€� I find myself struggling as I revise, finding so many instances where I have not provided enough of a reason for one of my cha…
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1. The Art of Fiction, by John Gardner Invoking the power of the pen (keyboard), I will return to review this novel after the other three with a brief explanation for why I changed the order. 2. Writing the Breakout Novel, by Donald Maas: I read the book years ago and reread it for this program. Key overall aspects I took to heart then (and now) include: I want to write a breakout novel, not a mid-list one, storytelling matters above all other considerations, word of mouth drives a breakout novel rather than marketing, and high stakes and gut emotional appeal are critical, especially when they escalate. Major lessons that I sort of learned years ago, an…
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Write Away by: Elizabeth George I found the section of Character Analysis to be thought-provoking. I liked the concept of a Prompt Sheet and I plan to use this tool whenever I’m out traveling, stuck in a work meeting or maybe trapped at a family function I can’t escape. With this, I can quickly sketch out character frames that I can later return to, like a bank of possible characters to use in later stories. This tool is also very helpful to reference when getting in touch with a character’s voice. George’s chapter on voice was helpful because it reinforced the importance of setting and how the characters will speak as products of their environment and how they r…
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How did the book help you as a writer? What overall aspects of it taught you something? What two or three major lessons did you learn from the book that you can apply to your writing and/or your novel? Was there anything in the books that obviously conflicted with lessons and readings in our novel writing program. If so, what were they? David Maass Writing the Breakout Novel has become my bible of sorts I find it vastly helpful, from David Maass' advice on upping the stakes to creating tension on every page to remembering to like my villain to having successful subplots to ... I found writing out of story dialogues between the author and characters …
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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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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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“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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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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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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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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(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 – 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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Writing Hacks. Are they helpful or hurtful? I, for one, have never cared for the word hack in this instance because it makes it sound like you are potentially BS-ing your way through your writing goals, thus leaving your integrity at the door. I’ve also never really understood the entire “hacking” trend because in so many instances they are just using the word hack in place of the words tip or advice. However, with all that being said, we’ll say that hacking is a good thing for our purposes today because it helped me find some new techniques for novel writing that I couldn’t have found any other way. So, here are my top five writing “hacks” for the week (the titles are pr…
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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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"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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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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