John Gardner and The Art of Fiction Essay

2. What writing strategy does the author use that you think is effective, and why? For example, does he use examples, or does he make

In Thomas Foster’s book, “How to Read Literature Like a Professor,” readers learn how to look past the surface of a literary work to find a deeper or hidden meaning. Writers use devices, such as symbolism, imagery, foreshadowing, irony and allusion to reveal these meanings. If these are overlooked, important aspects of the story can be lost. One literary device that Foster emphasizes in his book is allusion. Every story has elements of another story, and Foster devotes Chapters Four through Seven explaining the meaning of allusion in works by Shakespeare, the Bible, and fairy tales.

By examining the ideas in the essays Freewriting by Peter Elbow and The Makers Eye: Revising your own manuscripts by Donald Murray. One can gain a better understanding of the process of turning a piece of writing from an inspiration into a craft. By examining the elements lined out in each essay can be beneficial in creating a piece of writing that is beyond a college or student level. Elbows essay lines out the importance of a strong prewriting regimen. That editing too early can ruin writing. He believes that by using the method of free writing, it can inspire ideas that may be limited when worrying about grammar. While Murray emphasizes the necessity to create many drafts to form writing into its full potential. Saying each draft is an opportunity to discover what the author has to say and they the best way to say it. By transforming writing into its maximum potential it goes from being an idea an inspiration a masterpiece.

This article is about Richard Marius and the processes he uses in his own writings. He expresses the importance of starting with just a list, committing yourself completely to the project at hand, writing numerous rough drafts, and many other guidelines that can contribute to the process of effective writing.

Some of the top advice given to writers is to read prolifically. The more well-read a person is, the more they will intuitively understand what good, effective writing is. Moreover, good writing begins with critical thinking and careful consideration. Curiosity and open-mindedness aid in the endeavor and allow an author to think broadly about a subject. Careful reasoning allows a writer to logically organize information and thoughts and relay them in a compellingly clear way. In “College Writing and Beyond,” Anne Beaufort talks about how strong writers draw on five knowledge domains to produce good work. These five domains are: discourse community knowledge, writing process knowledge, subject matter knowledge, genre knowledge, and rhetorical knowledge. It is important to understand and consider what discipline and discourse community you will be speaking within in order to fashion your ideas into a well-received written contribution. Understanding effective writing processes and critical revising methods grants a writer greater ability to create succinct, effective, and enticing text. Understanding genres enables a writer to know what conventions of writing are expected of them and which best suit their purposes. Rhetorical knowledge facilitates the clarification of a text’s purpose and supports reader

Nearly everybody has thought about writing as a career or a hobby, and it’s simple when you really put the time into it because these skills, like creativity are easy improving skills. Most successful journalists have great creativity and writing skills, especially in the current age when journalists are actually writing award-winning novels, like John Sandford, my father’s favorite author and more famously Mark Twain.

Upon completing the novel I realized I will be frustrated with my students at times and will need to remember that there is always a reason for a behavior. My reaction to the behavior will be a very important piece in the relationship I build with my student.

Every english class includes dreaded assigned reading, and students get used to the treacherous act of mandatory reading and analysis. However, there eventually comes a novel that pushes the limits of commitment and causes students to question why they took the advanced placement course, such as William Faulkner’s Intruder in the Dust. More often than not, a student’s motivation to read assigned reading is quite low, but Faulkner’s writing creates a whole new level of desperation to avoid the novel. The complicated sentences and common themes Faulkner uses create a difficult reading for anyone, especially unmotivated students.

A novel is only as great as its author’s efforts. The ability to tie everything together in the end of a novel without leaving any unsolved questions, or relying on the ex machina technique, is the goal in which all inspiring authors reach for. Novelist Edith Wharton once said, “At every stage in the progress of his tale the novelist must rely on what may be called the “illuminating incident” to reveal and emphasize the inner meaning of each situation. Illuminating incidents are the magic casements of fiction, its vistas on infinity.” This idea came from Wharton’s own work, The Writing of Fiction. In a different work of hers, a novel by the name of Ethan Frome, Wharton explores the concept of the illuminating incident very thoroughly. I have

Everyone knows what writing is to one extent or another, but we all have different definitions of how it should be done and varying degrees of seriousness about the art. We all have a process of writing, but each is unique to ourselves and our own experiences. Annie Dillard and Stephen King are two well known authors who have published many pieces, two of which describe how they view the writing process and let their readers get a peek of what goes on through their minds when they write. These two pieces are Dillard’s The Writing Life and King’s “What Writing Is.”

The world is a massive place full of endless literature, beginning from ancient scrolls to daily news articles, filled with many secrets, perspectives and surroundings that help connect literature to an individual’s daily life. Some writers use the skills of literary elements to express and discuss an event that has happened to them or what has happened to others. This helps others to comprehend the perspectives of the author’s understanding toward an incident that one might experience. For instance in Flannery O’Connor’s short story, she uses many literary elements to express her views over most of her stories. O’Connor expresses her views in her short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by using the literary elements of point of view, irony, and setting.

Fiction is a difficult craft, yet heavily rewarding, both in reading and writing it. It is brimming with different aspects and parts that all come together to make a coherent whole. Authors who have well-honed their craft are able to manipulate the elements of fiction and bend them into any from they desire, creating stories that reflect the human condition, entertain us, jar us, teach us, and so much more. There are however, some authors who demonstrate usage and mastery of certain elements over others.

Metafiction is fiction that draws attention to its own fictional status, and in doing so it acknowledges no reality other than the one we construct for ourselves. In attempting to escape from the constructed realities of language and signs, it seeks also to dispel our illusions of being able to portray reality in art and in novels. Thus, by drawing attention to its fictionality,

Setting aside this glaring flaw, the book is otherwise easy on the eyes. But, it makes one think of the world we lived in, where such horrid things came to pass. It forces the reader to acknowledge, that it is a far better place that we are in today. The ending especially, will leave the reader with a deep sense of discomfort.

What is relevant to a writer is subjective: something which kindles inspiration to develop a story, and provides assistance in aspects of novelistic discourse. Orson Scott Card posits that there are four basic factors which create a story: milieu, idea, character and event , a balance of which creates the arc of the story. The reader takes the content of the sum of these factors and finds parallels, or contraries, in their own lives and interests. The writer takes this a step further by conceptualising new worlds and constructing new narratives, taking inspiration from what is read in order to build their own plots. An exploration into what resonates with the contemporary writer is essential in determining whether the focus of aspiring writers should be imitating Fielding’s ‘writers of antiquity’, embracing the ‘great pattern’, or on more recent works. For the purpose of this analysis I will be considering works written within the last twenty years ‘recent’, whilst analysing what writers gain, or lose, from fiction written longer ago.