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Book Reports - Laura Szymczak


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New York Pitch Book Reports

 

  • "The Art of Fiction" by John Gardner (a great primer for this commercial program)
    • How did the book help you as a writer? What overall aspects of it taught you something
      • The Art of Fiction” helped me as a writer by introducing me to the concept of fiction as a vivid dream and presenting many tools to create that dream for the reader. The book also talks about the important of sentence structure down to word choice and explains the use of scansion as a tool to create the vivid dream.
    • What two or three major lessons did you learn from the book that you can apply to your writing and/or your novel?
      • The first lesson I learned is that when reading fiction the reader should experience and uninterrupted lucid dream and it is the writer’s job to ensure this.
      • The second lesson I learned was about scansion and the use of rhythm and meter as a way to create feeling in the reader.
      • The third lesson I learned was about authenticating detail and how the writing should convince the reader to believe or forget not to believe the vivid dream presented.
    • Was there anything in the books that obviously conflicted with lessons and readings in our novel writing program. If so, what were they?
      • Nothing I read conflicted with the lessons.

 

  • "Writing the Breakout Novel" by Donald Maass (another good primer)
    • How did the book help you as a writer? What overall aspects of it taught you something?“Writing the Breakout Novel” helped me as a writer by enhancing my understanding of what the novel reading experience can be for the reader.
    • What two or three major lessons did you learn from the book that you can apply to your writing and/or your novel?
      • The first major lesson I learned is that there should be tension on every page and conflict in every scene.
      • The second major lesson I learned is that a breakout novel is always the result of word of mouth - the readers are the wizards that propel a novel - no amount of PR will sell a book with a bad reader experience.
    • Was there anything in the books that obviously conflicted with lessons and readings in our novel writing program. If so, what were they?
      • Nothing I read conflicted with the lessons.

 

  • "Write Away" by Elizabeth George (a no nonsense primer, and humorous)
    • How did the book help you as a writer? What overall aspects of it taught you something?“Write Away” taught me the importance of having a consistent and disciplined process in order to write a novel. I also learned the importance of writing craft, and how knowing the rules is the only way to really be able to mold your writing into art.
    • What two or three major lessons did you learn from the book that you can apply to your writing and/or your novel?
      • The first lesson that I can apply to my writing is that character is the story - creating the characters first can lead the plot and helps the reader invest - if they don’t care about the character why would they care what happens
      • The second lesson that I can apply to my reading is that I am not telling a story I am rendering a story scene by scene.
      • The third lesson I can apply to my writing is the idea of a THAD (talking head avoidance device) to give the reader a visual and some movement during dialogue.
    • Was there anything in the books that obviously conflicted with lessons and readings in our novel writing program. If so, what were they?
      • Nothing in this book obviously contradicted the lessons or readings in the novel wiring program.

 

  • "The Writing Life" by Annie Dillard (a look at the struggle)
    • How did the book help you as a writer? What overall aspects of it taught you something?"The Writing Life" helped me as a writer by easing my fear that my process was uniquely slow and terrible. The book validated that my process is neither unique to me or particularly slow, that writing takes time and this is expected.
    • What two or three major lessons did you learn from the book that you can apply to your writing and/or your novel?
      • The first lesson that I will be applying to my writing is the concept of “aiming for the block, not the wood” I will apply this by working on my writing craft as a whole and turning myself into a better writer not just turning my current WIP into a better book.
      • The second lesson I will be apply to my writing is the concept that nothing will teach me to write better than the page by developing a more consistent writing practice of writing everyday (even if I use the pages to light fires at the end of said day)
    • Was there anything in the books that obviously conflicted with lessons and readings in our novel writing program. If so, what were they?
        • Nothing that I picked on up in this book conflicted with the novel writing program.
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