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Jen Prosser


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The Art of Fiction – Gardner

 

1. I found Gardner’s faults to avoid the most useful part of the book and have endeavored to remove or correct them in my manuscript when possible.

 

2. Three Major lessons

a. “vivid and continuous fictional dream” – this is excellent advice to keep the reader enthralled, particularly applicable to the medical parts of my manuscript to ensure that it doesn’t become overwhelming and thus distracting to the reader

b. Avoiding needless explanation and explanation instead of drama alone – this prompts me to show, not tell in the manuscript which will become a large part of the next revision

c. “Frigidity towards characters” – a good reminder to be careful of your own feelings about a character

3. Conflicts – there are not many here. He does say there are no rules for writing, which is in contrast to some of the thought in this course.

 

The Writing Life – Dillard

 

1. She uses Goethe’s statement “Do not hurry; do not rest” to begin and the rest of the book elegantly illustrates this point. Excellent advice for writing and for life, especially for someone like myself who is eager to write as much and as quickly as possible, but who has to balance writing and another full time job.

 

2. Lessons

a. I found her statement about aiming past the wood, through the wood and for the chopping

block to be very inspiring. At a point when I was frustrated by the thought of more revisions to

my manuscript, this helped inspire me to continue to improve it.

b. “The line of words is a miner’s pick, a woodcarver’s gouge, a surgeon’s probe.” From this

line, I have gathered two things, first the precise use of the correct work to convey the most

emotion and second, to unhesitatingly remove the price tag. (See below)

c. “How many books do we read from which the writer lacked courage to ite off the umbilical

cord? How many gifts do we open from which the writer neglected to remove the price tag? Is it

pertinent, is it courteous, for us to learn what it cost the writer personally?” The hard work that

goes into a manuscript of many drafts leads to some resistance to more drafts, however there

is not choice but to remove the price tag, no matter how hard it is to get off.

 

3. Conflicts- Certainly she is not a proponent of rules, schedules or even focusing on commercial fiction.

 

 

Write Away – George

1. I was impressed by the meticulous research methods George uses for her novels. Something I would normally associate far more with science than literature. I also like her very concrete descriptions, especially the lists she includes. Concepts are great to think about, but she really illustrates her points which is much more helpful.

 

2. Lessons

a. “THAD” – talking head avoidance device is a wonderful concept to continuously show, don’t tell

b. Psychological profile – this is a great way to invent different characters, and a great way to predict how each character would react to stress

c. Hooks – a concrete list to help consider how to add these to my manuscript especially in the beginning when the plot is just developing

 

3. Conflicts – the three act structure differs from this course

 

 

Writing the Breakout Novel – Maas

 

1. Helped me think about the fact that whenever possible, every page should be a page turner, even those that are not as naturally dramatic as the climatic scenes.

 

2. Lessons

a. Characters – he says that its characters that people remember, not plots. I am using this thought to make my protagonist more three dimensional.

b. “A breakout novel rattles, confronts and illuminates.” All of the things I would like Elixir to do, but eloquently stated.

c. Theme – the theme of the novel became obvious to me as I read this book, despite not having giving it much conscious thought until I started this section of the course.

 

3. Conflicts – I didn’t appreciate any conflicts.

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