I teach and publish short stories, novels, and flash fiction. Iâm also interested in the language people use to critique writing. Concepts (suspense, for example) can be helpful, but they often co-opt the imagination and become gold standards for what good fiction should be. In addition to the writerâs voice, Iâm interested in the alchemy of the story, which is always greater than the sum of its parts. Right now, Iâm writing a book called Accordion Fiction. It's about the shape and rhythm of storiesâhow they contract and expand like an accordion.
I admire the way this book jumps out of the box and debunks the emphasis on âpure craftââa term that grew out of the heroâs journey. (Basically the âHoratio Algerâ story about a character going from rags to riches.)
This model stifles the voices of writers from other cultures.
Salessesâ techniques help writers mine their cultural background and discover stories only they can tell. It also frees all writers from the model of the heroâs journey.
This national bestseller is "a significant contribution to discussions of the art of fiction and a necessary challenge to received views about whose stories are told, how they are told and for whom they are intended" (Laila Lalami, The New York Times Book Review).
The traditional writing workshop was established with white male writers in mind; what we call craft is informed by their cultural values. In this bold and original examination of elements of writingâincluding plot, character, conflict, structure, and believabilityâand aspects of workshopâincluding the silenced writer and the imagined readerâMatthew Salesses asks questions to invigorate these familiar concepts.âŠ
This book has a playful quality that engaged me immediately.
I was intrigued by Allisonâs adventurous visionâone that sees patterns in nature as models for stories that donât follow the traditional Aristotelian arc.
Alison analyzes many novels in terms of their shape (waves, spirals, tsunamis, and fractals)âstretching my imagination. She also makes it brilliantly clear that the shape of the heroâs journey is just one of many possible shapes for a fictional work.
"How lovely to discover a book on the craft of writing that is also fun to read . . . Alison asserts that the best stories follow patterns in nature, and by defining these new styles she offers writers the freedom to explore but with enough guidance to thrive." âMaris Kreizman, Vulture
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019 | A Poets & Writers Best Books for Writers
As Jane Alison writes in the introduction to her insightful and appealing book about the craft of writing: âFor centuries thereâs been one path through fiction weâre most likely to travelâ oneâŠ
LeeAnn Pickrellâs love affair with punctuation began in a tenth-grade English class.
Punctuated is a playful book of punctuation poems inspired by her years as an editor. Frustrated by the misuse of the semicolon, she wrote a poem to illustrate its correct use. From there she realized the other marksâŠ
I resonated to the originality of Faulknerâs vision in which he explores the art of minimalistic writingâa path that gives writers unique and interesting alternatives to classical fiction.
There is a wonderful discussion of the early minimalists, among them Natalie Serrault, whose work Faulkner brings to life. He argues that contemporary flash fictionâa form that can be as short as one hundred wordsâis a serious and legitimate form of storytelling.
This book is especially important to me because I love to write short pieces and tell a story quickly. Iâve also noticed that all students, regardless of training and background, can write excellent short fiction.
With increased compression, every word, every sentence matters more. A writer must learn how to form narratives around caesuras and crevices instead of strings of connections, to move a story through the symbolic weight of images, to master the power of suggestion.
With elegant prose, deep readings of other writers, and scaffolded writing exercises, The Art of Brevity takes the reader on a lyrical exploration of compact storytelling, guiding readers to heighten their awareness of not only what appears on the page but also what doesn't.
Brandt cuts through the mystique that âwriting canât be taughtâ and encourages writers to discover the creative and rational aspects of their consciousnessâan approach that excites me as a writer and a teacher.
Brandtâs approach is useful for beginning writers and also for writers going through a dry period. I recommend it to all my students.
A reissue of a classic work published in 1934 on writing and the creative process, Becoming a Writer recaptures the excitement of Dorothea Brande's creative writing classroom of the 1920s. Decades before brain research "discovered" the role of the right and left brain in all human endeavor, Dorothea Brande was teaching students how to see again, how to hold their minds still, and how to call forth the inner writer.
Do you freeze up when your characters drift into the bedroom? Are you puzzled about how much to say and how to say it? What to call the body parts that bring us so much pleasure and so much anguish?
If youâre writing a novel and thereâs a sexual encounterâŠ
The poet Tony Hagland celebrates the colloquial voiceâan approach that is liberating for poetsâbut also for fiction writers.
He describes voice as being âlike a womb around an embryoâ that does the crucial work of connecting the writer and the reader. I admired the way this book demystifies the notion that the voice occupies a cerebral realm. Hoagland uses slang and street talkâshowing writers a rich and complex palette.
This book is useful for fiction writers as well as poets. It will liberate your adherence to âliterary languageâ and push you right out into the street.
In this accessible and distilled craft guide, acclaimed poet Tony Hoagland approaches poetry through the frame of poetic voice, that mysterious connective element that binds the speaker and reader together. A poem strong in the dimension of voice is an animate thing of shifting balances, tones, and temperatures, by turns confiding, vulgar, bossy, or cunning-but above all, alive.
The twelve short chapters of The Art of Voice explore ways to create a distinctive poetic voice, including vernacular, authoritative statement, material imagination, speech register, tone-shifting, and using secondary voices as an enriching source of texture in the poem. A comprehensive appendixâŠ
When I wrote this book with Dorothy Wall, I didnât know that it would be the first book to discuss voice and create a path for many more books and courses on voice. Finding Your Writers Voice treats voice as the engine of a story and defines the writerâs voice as who you are and how you express that artistically. Each writerâs voice is as distinct as a thumbprint.
The exercises are geared to helping writers discover how their voice expresses who they are and how to develop that voice artistically. Used in writing programs, it offers a breakthrough method of revision that involves returning to the original voice of the story, almost always found in the first draft. I sometimes read it to remember my own advice.
Do you freeze up when your characters drift into the bedroom? Are you puzzled about how much to say and how to say it? What to call the body parts that bring us so much pleasure and so much anguish?
If youâre writing a novel and thereâs a sexual encounterâŠ
Gifts from a Challenging Childhood
by
Jan Bergstrom,
Learn to understand and work with your childhood wounds. Do you feel like old wounds or trauma from your childhood keep showing up today? Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed with what to do about it and where to start? If so, this book will help you travel down a pathâŠ
